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COOK'S 

VOYAGES  ROUND  THE  WORLD. 
1768—1780. 


MORRISON   AND   GIBB,    EDINBURGH 
PRINTERS  TO   HER   MAJESTY  S  STATIONERY  OFFICE 


VOYAGES  BOUND  THE  WORLD 


BY 


CAPTAIN  JAMES  COOK 


EDITED,  WITH  NOTES,  ETC.,  BY 

D.    LAING    PUKVES 

•    '. 


NEW    YORK: 
R.   WORTHINGTON,    770    BROADWAY, 

1883. 


-3 


COOK'S  VOYAGES  BOUND  THE  WOELD. 


[It  may  here  be  mentioned  that,  save  for  the  episode  of  the  first  sojourn  at 
Otaheite,  taken  below^from  Dr  Hawkesworth's  account  almost  at  full  length, 
the  synopsis  of  the  famous  discoverer's  first  two  voyages  is  taken  from  the 
third  volume  of  "Maritime  and  Inland  Discovery,"  pp.  28-69,  in  Dr  Lard- 
ner's  well-known  but  now  not  very  easily  attainable  "  Cabinet  Cyclopaedia." 
Chapters  III.  and  IV.  of  Book  Y.  runs  as  follows;  and  they  are  none  the 
less  valuable,  as  introducing  some  brief  preliminary  record  of  a  man  whom 
England,  without  any  injustice  to  earlier  or  later  names,  may  honestly  regard 
as  her  greatest  navigator  and  her  most  indefatigable  and  successful  discoverer. 
We  give  the  text  of  the  "  Cyclopaedia,"  except  for  a  few  changes  necessitated 
by  severance  from  the  context,  precisely  as  we  find  it  after  two-and-forty 


COOK'S  FIRST  YOYAGE. 


"  THE  interests  of  science  and  the 
acquisition  of  geographical  knowledge 
entered  largely  into  the  motives  of 
the  circumnavigations  [we  have]  re- 
lated. But  the  first  expedition  of 
importance,  fitted  out  wholly  for 
scientific  objects,  was  that  entrusted 
to  the  command  of  the  celebrated 
Captain  James  Cook.  This  great  na- 
vigator was  born  of  humble  parents  : 
nia  lather  was  an  agricultural  labourer, 
whose  steady  conduct  was  at  length 
rewarded  by  his  employer  with  the 
situation  of  hind  or  under-steward. 
As  he  had  nine  children,  and  his 
means  were  slender,  he  was  unable  to 
assist  materially  their  individual  exer- 
tions to  procure  a  livelihood.  James, 
when  thirteen  years  of  age,  was  ap- 
prenticed to  a  shopkeeper  at  Straiths, 
a  fishing  town  not  far  from  Whitby ; 
but  the  predilection  of  young  Cook 
for  the  sea  was  soon  manifested  with 
that  strength  of  inclination  which  is 
sure  to  accompany  peculiar  talents. 


He  engaged  himself  for  seven  years 
with  the  owners  of  some  ships  em- 
ployed in  the  coal  trade ;  and,  when 
the  period  of  his  engagement  was  ex- 
pired, he  was  promoted  by  his  em- 
ployers to  the  rank  of  mate  of  one  of 
their  vessels.  The  coal  trade  of  Eng- 
land, being  chiefly  carried  on  near  a 
singularly  dangerous  coast,  where  un- 
ceasing vigilance  is  required  on  the 
part  of  the  seamen,  constitutes  the 
best  school  of  practical  mariners  in 
the  world.  Cook,  who  obeyed  his 
own  inclinations  when  he  turned 
sailor,  profited,  no  doubt,  in  the 
highest  degree,  from  the  opportuni- 
ties which  his  coasting  voyages  af- 
forded him  of  becoming  acquainted 
with  the  practical  part  of  navigation. 
At  length,  being  in  the  Thames  in 
1755,  when  impressments  were  carried 
on  to  a  great  extent,  he  resolved  to 
anticipate  the  impending  necessity, 
and  offered  himself  to  serve  on  board 
the  Eagle,  a  man-of-war  of  60  guns. 


COOK'S  VOYAGES. 


Shortly  after,  the  friends  and  patrons 
of  his  family  in  Yorkshire  having 
warmly  recommended  his  interests  to 
the  care  of  Mr  Osbaldiston,  the  mem- 
ber for  Scarborough,  and  Captain 
(afterwards  Sir  Hugh)  Palliser,  who 
commanded  the  Eagle,  reporting  well 
of  his  conduct  and  capacity,  he  was 
appointed  master  of  the  Mercury,  a 
small  vessel  which  soon  afterwards 
joined  the  fleet  of  Sir  Charles  Saunders 
in  the  Gulf  of  St  Lawrence.  Here 
the  talents  and  resolution  of  Cook 
soon  became  conspicuous. 

"  It  was  found  necessary,  in  order 
that  the  fleet  might  co-operate  with 
the  army  under  General  Wolfe,  that 
it  should  take  up  a  position  along  the 
shore  in  front  of  the  French  encamp- 
ments ;  but  before  this  manceuvre 
could  be  put  in  execution,  the  channel 
of  the  river  was  to  be  sounded.  This 
difficult  task  required  the  union  of 
more  than  ordinary  intelligence  and 
intrepidity,  and  Cook  was  the  person 
selected  for  the  purpose.  For  several 
nights  he  carried  on  his  operations 
unperceived ;  but  at  length  the  enemy 
discovered  his  movements,  and,  send- 
ing out  a  great  number  of  boats  after 
it  grew  dark,  attempted  to  surround 
and  cut  him  off.  Cook  pushed  for 
the  Isle  of  Orleans ;  and  so  narrowly 
did  he  escape  being  captured,  that  as 
he  stepped  on  shore  from  the  bow  of 
his  boat,  the  Indians  in  pursuit  of 
him  entered  at  the  stern;  and  the 
boat  itself,  which  was  a  pinnace 
belonging  to  a  man-of-war,  was  car- 
ried off  by  the  enemy.  Cook,  how- 
ever, had  accomplished  his  task,  and 
laid  before  the  Admiral  of  the  fleet 
a  survey  of  the  channel,  which  was 
found  to  be  both  full  and  accurate. 
After  the  conquest  of  Quebec  he  was 
appointed  to  examine  the  more  diffi- 
cult portions  of  the  Kiver  St  Law- 
rence, with  the  navigation  of  which 
the  English  had  but  little  acquaint- 
ance. His  zeal  and  abilities  soon 
after  procured  him  an  appointment 
as  master  to  the  Northumberland, 
which  bore  the  Commodore's  flag  at 
Halifax.  Here  he  found  leisure  to 
apply  himself  to  the  study  of  elemen- 
tary mathematics,  and  to  improve 


[VOY.1. 

those  talents  as  a  practical  hydro- 
grapher  of  which  he  had  given  such 
ample  proofs  in  his  first  rude  essays. 
An  opportunity  also  soon  occurred  of 
displaying  his  improvement  by  sur- 
veying a  part  of  the  coast  of  New- 
foundland. This  island  had  lately 
fallen  into  the  power  of  the  English ; 
and  its  importance  as  a  fishing  station 
being  fully  appreciated  by  Sir  Hugh 
Palliser,  who  was  appointed  governor 
in  the  year  1764,  he  strongly  repre- 
sented to  Government  the  necessity 
of  making  an  accurate  survey  of  its 
coasts;  and,  accordingly,  by  his  re- 
commendation, Cook  was  appointed 
marine  surveyor  of  Newfoundland  and 
Labrador,  and  the  Grenville  schooner 
was  placed  under  his  command  for 
this  purpose.  The  manner  in  which 
Cook  executed  this  task  confirmed 
the  high  opinion  already  entertained 
of  his  zeal  and  ability.  A  short 
paper  which  he  communicated  to  the 
Royal  Society  on  an  eclipse  of  the 
sun  observed  in  Newfoundland,  and 
the  longitude  of  the  place  as  calcu- 
lated from  it,  procured  him  the  char- 
acter of  a  respectable  mathematician. 
"  But  still  higher  honours  awaited 
him.  The  transit  of  the  planet 
Venus  over  the  sun's  disc,  calculated 
to  take  place  in  1769,  was  looked  for- 
ward to  by  the  scientific  world  with 
much  anxious  interest ;  and  it  was 
earnestly  desired  that  all  the  advan- 
tage which  could  be  derived  to  science 
from  so  rare  a  phenomenon  might  be 
secured  by  observing  it  in  distant 
quarters  of  the  globe.  In  accordance 
with  this  view,  the  Eoyal  Society  pre- 
sented an  address  to  the  King,  setting 
forth  the  advantage  of  observing  the 
transit  in  the  opposite  hemisphere, 
their  inability  to  fit  out  an  expedition 
for  the  purpose,  and  praying  his  Ma- 
jesty to  equip  a  vessel  to  be  despatched 
to  the  South  Sea  under  their  direction. 
This  petition  was  at  once  complied 
with.  The  person  at  first  designed 
to  command  the  expedition  was  Mr 
Dalrymple,  chief  hydrographer  to  the 
Admiralty,  and  no  less  celebrated  for 
his  geographical  knowledge  than  for 
his  zeal  in  maintaining  the  existence 
of  an  Australian  continent.  Dalrymple 


1768.] 


LIFE  OF  CAPTAIN  JAMES  COOK. 


had  never  held  a  commission  in  his 
Majesty's  navy ;  and  the  experience 
of  Dr  Halley  had  proved  that  one  so 
circumstanced  cannot  expect  obedience 
from  a  crew  subjected  to  the  discipline 
of  the  navy.  The  pride  of  the  pro- 
fession scorns  to  submit  to  those  who 
have  not  acquired  their  authority  by 
passing  through  the  ordinary  routine 
of  "promotion.  Dalrymple,  however, 
refused  to  engage  in  the  expedition 
unless  with  the  amplest  powers  of  a 
commander.  The  Admiralty,  on  the 
other  hand,  were  unwilling  to  entrust 
him  with  powers  which  might  embroil 
him  with  his  officers.  Neither  party 
would  yield ;  and,  while  the  alfair 
thus  remained  in  suspense,  Cook  was 
proposed.  Inquiries  were  then  made 
as  to  his  abilities  ;  and,  as  all  who 
knew  him  spoke  favourably  of  him  ; 
and  great  confidence  is  usually  felt  in 
the  steady  and  concentrated  talents 
of  the  self-taught,  he  was  chosen  to 
command  the  expedition,  being  first 
promoted  to  the  rank  of  lieutenant. 

"It  is  a  proof  of  Cook's  natural 
strength  of  understanding,  that  his 
mind  was  not  enslaved  by  habits,  but 
that  he  was  always  ready  to  introduce 
innovations  into  his  practice  whenever 
they  were  recommended  by  common 
sense  and  experience.  Instead  of 
selecting  a  frigate,  or  vessel  of  that 
description,  for  his  voyage,  he  chose 
a  vessel  built  for  the  coal  trade,  with 
the  sailing  qualities  of  which  he  was 
well  acquainted.  He  justly  repre- 
sented, that  a  ship  of  this  kind  was 
more  capable  of  carrying  the  stores 
requisite  for  a  long  voyage  ;  was  ex- 
posed to  less  hazard  in  running  near 
coasts — an  object  of  great  importance 
in  a  voyage  of  discovery ;  was  less 
affected  by  currents  ;  and,  in  case  of 
any  accident,  might  without  much 
difficulty  or  danger,  be  laid  on  shore 
to  undergo  repairs.  The  ship  which 
he  chose  was  of  360  tons'  burden,  and 
lamed  the  Endeavour.  No  pains 
were  spared  by  the  Admiralty  in  fit- 
ting her  out  for  the  voyage  ;  and,  as 
the  improvement  of  science  was  its 
main  object,  persons  qualified  to  attain 
the  desired  end  were  appointed  to  ac- 
company the  expedition.  Mr  Green 


was  named  by  the  Royal  Society  as 
the  astronomer ;  Dr  Solander,  a 
learned  Swede  and  pupil  of  Linnaeus, 
went  as  naturalist ;  Mr  (afterwards 
Sir  Joseph)  Banks,  a  gentleman  of 
large  fortune,  and  at  that  time  very 
young,  who  afterwards  reflected  so 
much  lustre  on  his  country  by  devot- 
ing a  long  life  and  ample  means  to 
the  interests  of  learning,  renounced 
the  ease  to  which  his  affluence  entitled 
him,  and  commenced  his  active  and 
honourable  career  by  a  voyage  round 
the  world.  Being  accompanied  by 
able  draughtsmen,  and  being  himself 
zealously  attached  to  the  study  of 
natural  history,  and  amply  provided 
with  everything  conducive  to  the 
gratification  of  his  favourite  pursuit ; 
being  at  the  same  time  of  a  lively, 
open,  liberal,  and  courageous  temper, 
his  company  was  no  less  agreeable 
than  it  was  advantageous.  Before  the 
preparations  were  completed,  Captain 
Wallis  returned  from  his  voyage  round 
the  world  ;  and  having  been  advised 
to  fix  on  some  spot  in  the  South  Sea 
conveniently  situated  for  the  erection  of 
an  observatory,  he  named  Port  Royal 
in  King  George  the  Third's  Island  aa 
a  place  well  adapted  for  that  purpose. 

"Everything  being  now  prepared, 
Lieutenant  Cook  sailed  from  Ply  mouth 
on  the  26th  of  August  1768.  He 
touched  at  Rio  Janeiro,  where  the 
Portuguese  Governor,  no  less  ignor- 
ant than  suspicious,  was  much  at  a 
loss  to  comprehend  the  object  of  the 
expedition ;  nor,  after  much  trouble, 
was  he  able  to  form  a  juster  idea  of 
it,  than  that  it  was  intended  to  ob- 
serve the  north  star  passing  through 
the  south  pole.  It  was  only  by  stealt  1  > 
that  Mr  Banks  could  go  ashore,  though 
nature  seemed  here  to  teem  with  the 
objects  of  his  research,  and  brilliant 
butterflies  flew  round  the  ship  to  the 
height  of  the  mast.  In  leaving  this 
port,  Cook,  after  the  example  of  Byron, 
sailed  over  the  position  which  had 
been  assigned  by  Cowley  to  Pepys' 
Island,  and  finally  dispelled  all  belief 
in  its  existence.  He  then  directed 
his  course  through  the  Straits  of  Le 
Maire,  to  pass  round  Cape  Horn. 

"  The  naturalists  of  the  expedition 


COOK'S  VOYAGES. 


landed  on  Tierra  del  Fuego,  and, 
crossing  a  morass  and  some  low  woods, 
ascended  the  highest  eminence  they 
could  descry.  It  was  now  midsummer 
in  this  region,  and  the  temperature 
during  the  day  was  moderately  warm, 
but  as  night  approached  snow  fell  in 
great  quantities,  and  the  cold  became 
excessive.  The  exploring  party,  who 
had  incautiously  advanced  too  far, 
were  unable  to  effect  their  return  to 
the  shore  before  sunset,  and  were 
obliged  to  spend  the  night  exposed  to 
til  the  inclemency  of  the  weather,  in 
a,  singularly  desolate  and  unsheltered 
region.  Dr  Solander,  who,  having 
travelled  in  the  north  of  Europe,  was 
well  acquainted  with  the  fatal  effects 
of  cold  on  the  constitution,  repeatedly 
admonished  his  companions  to  resist 
the  first  approach  of  drowsiness,  as 
the  sleep  superinduced  by  cold  is  sure 
to  prove  fatal ;  but  he  was  the  first 
to  feel  the  dangerous  torpor  he  pre- 
dicted, and  entreated  his  companions 
to  allow  him  to  lie  down  and  take  his 
rest ;  but  they,  fortunately  instructed 
by  his  lessons,  persisted  in  dragging 
him  along,  and  thus  saved  his  life. 
On  reaching  the  woods  in  their  de- 
scent, they  kindled  a  fire,  round 
which  they  spent  the  night ;  and  when 
the  sun  rose,  they  made  their  way  to 
the  ships  ;  but  two  of  the  party,  ser- 
vants of  Mr  Banks,  who  lay  down  to 
rest  in  the  snow,  were  found  dead  the 
next  morning. 

"The  voyage  round  Cape  Horn 
into  the  Pacific  occupied  thirty-four 
days  ;  and  Cook,  who  was  rather  for- 
tunate in  his  weather,  seems  to  think 
it  preferable  to  the  passage  through  the 
Straits  of  Magellan.  In  his  voyage 
through  the  ocean,  he  descried  some 
small  islands,  of  the  group  which  had 
been  previously  visited  by  "Wallis  and 
Bougainville.  He  proceeded,  how- 
ever, direct  to  the  place  of  his  desti- 
nation, not  allowing  himself  to  be 
detained  by  unimportant  discoveries. " 

[The  account  of  Cook's  first  stay  at 
Otaheite,  and  his  transactions  with 
the  natives  there,  is  altogether  too 
curious  and  interesting  to  be  dismissed 
with  the  curt  notice  Dr  Larduer  ac- 


[VOY.  1. 


cords  to  it ;  and  we  take  the  following 
particular  narration  from  Dr  Hawkes- 
worth's  Collection  of  Voyages,  as  re- 

S-oduced  by  Kerr  in  his  well-known 
istory  of  Voyages  and  Travels  (Edin- 
burgh, 1814;  vol.  xii.,  p.  423,  ad 
finem).  The  section  headings  have 
not  been  regarded,  the  entire  narra- 
tive being  treated  as  what  it  really  is 
— one  consecutive  story.] 

About  1  o'clock  on  Monday  the 
10th  April,  some  of  the  people  who 
were  looking  out  for  the  island  to 
which  we  were  bound,  said  they  saw 
land  ahead,  in  that  part  of  the  horizon 
where  it  was  expected  to  appear ;  but 
it  was  so  faint,  that  whether  there 
was  land  in  sight  or  not  remained  a 
matter  of  dispute  till  sunset.  The 
next  morning,  however,  at  6  o'clock, 
we  were  convinced  that  those  who 
said  they  had  discovered  land  were 
not  mistaken  ;  it  appeared  to  be  very 
high  and  mountainous,  extending 
from  W.  by  S.  half  S.  to  W.  by  N. 
half  N.,  and  we  knew  it  to  be  the 
same  that  Captain  Wallis1  had  called 
King  George  the  Third's  Island.  "We 
were  delayed  in  our  approach  to  it  by 
light  airs  and  calms,  so  that  in  the 
morning  of  the  12th  we  were  but  little 
nearer  than  we  had  been  the  night 
before ;  but  about  seven  a  breeze 
sprung  up,  and  before  eleven  several 
canoes  were  seen  making  towards  the 
ship.  There  were  but  few  of  them, 
however,  that  would  come  near  ;  and 
the  people  in  those  that  did,  could 
not  be  persuaded  to  come  on  board. 
In  every  canoe  there  were  young  plan- 
tains, and  branches  of  a  tree  which 
the  Indians  call  "E'  Midho  ;"  these, 
as  we  afterwards  learned,  were  brought 
as  tokens  of  peace  and  amity ;  and 
the  people  in  one  of  the  canoes  handed 
them  up  the  ship's  side,  making  sig- 
nals at  the  same  time  with  great 
earnestness,  which  we  did  not  imme- 
diately understand.  At  length  we 
guessed  that  they  wished  these  sym- 
bols should  be  placed  in  some  conspi- 


1  Who  had  circumnavigated  the 
globe  in  1766-1768  in  the  Dolphin, 
and  come  into  hostile  contact  with 
the  natives  of  Otaheite. 


1769.]      ARRIVAL  OF  THE  ENDEAVOUR  AT  OTAHE1TE. 


cuous  part  of  the  ship  ;  we  therefore 
immediately  stuck  them  among  the 
rigging,  at  which  they  expressed  the 
greatest  satisfaction.  We  then  pur- 
chased their  cargoes,  consisting  of 
cocoa-nuts,  and  various  kinds  of  fruit, 
which,  after  our  long  voyage,  were 
very  acceptable. 

We  stood  on  with  an  easy  sail  all 
night,  with  soundings  from  twenty- 
two  fathoms  to  twelve  ;  and  about  7 
o'clock  in  the  morning  we  came  to  an 
anchor  in  thirteen  fathoms  in  Port 
Royal  Bay,  called  by  the  natives  Mata- 
vai.  We  were  immediately  surround- 
ed by  the  natives  in  their  canoes,  who 
gave  us  cocoa-nuts,  fruit  resembling 
apples,  bread-fruit,  and  some  small 
fishes,  in  exchange  for  beads  and 
other  trifles.  They  had  with  them  a 
pig,  which  they  would  not  part  with  for 
anything  but  a  hatchet,  and  therefore 
we  refused  to  purchase  it ;  because,  if 
we  gave  them  a  hatchet  for  a  pig  now, 
we  knew  they  would  never  afterwards 
sell  one  for  less,  and  we  could  not 
afford  to  buy  as  many  as  it  was  pro- 
bable we  should  want  at  that  price. 
The  bread-fruit  grows  on  a  tree  that 
;s  about  the  size  of  a  middling  oak. 
Its  leaves  are  frequently  a  foot  and  a 
half  long,  of  an  oblong  shape,  deeply 
sinuated  like  those  of  the  fig-tree, 
which  they  resemble  in  consistence 
and  colour,  and  in  the  exuding  of  a 
white  milky  juice  upon  being  broken. 
The  fruit  is  about  the  size  and  shape 
of  a  child's  head,  and  the  surface  is 
reticulated  not  much  unlike  a  truffle. 
It  is  covered  with  a  thin  skin,  and 
has  a  core  about  as  big  as  the  handle 
of  a  small  knife.  The  eatable  part 
lies  between  the  skin  and  the  core ;  it 
is  as  white  as  snow,  and  somewhat  of 
the  consistence  of  new  bread.  It  must 
be  roasted  before  it  is  eaten,  being 
first  divided  into  three  or  four  parts. 
Its  taste  is  insipid,  with  a  slight 
sweetness  somewhat  resembling  that 
of  the  crumb  of  wheaten  bread  mixed 
with  a  Jerusalem  artichoke.  Among 
others  who  came  off  to  the  ship  was 
an  elderly  man,  whose  name,  as  we 
learned  afterwards,  was  Owhaw,  and 
who  was  immediately  known  to  Mr 
Gore,  and  several  others  who  had  been 


here  with  Captain  Wallis  ;  as  I  was 
informed  that  he  had  been  very  useful 
to  them,  I  took  him  on  board  the  ship 
with  some  others,  and  was  particularly 
attentive  to  gratify  him,  as  I  hoped 
he  might  also  be  useful  to  us. 

As  our  stay  here  was  not  likely  to 
be  very  short,  and  as  it  was  necessary 
that  the  merchandise  which  we  had 
brought  for  traffic  with  the  natives 
should  not  diminish  in  its  value, 
which  it  would  certainly  have  done  if 
eveiy  person  had  been  left  at  liberty 
to  give  what  he  pleased  for  such  things 
as  he  should  purchase  ;  at  the  same 
time  that  confusion  and  quarrels  must 
necessarily  have  arisen  from  there 
being  no  standard  at  market ;  I  drew 
up  the  following  rules,  and  ordered 
that  they  should  be  punctually  ob- 
served : 

Rules  to  be  observed  by  every  person  in 
or  belonging  to  his  Majesty's  bark 
the  Endeavour,  for  the  better  estab- 
lishing a  regular  and  uniform  trade 
for  iwovtiion,  <bc.  with  the  inhabi- 
tants of  King  George's  Island. 

I.  To    endeavour,    by    every  fair 
means,  to  cultivate  a  friendship  with 
the  natives  ;  and  to  treat  them  with 
all  imaginable  humanity. 

II.  A  proper  person  or  persons  will 
be  appointed  to  trade  with  the  natives 
for  all  manner  of  provisions,  fruit, 
and  other  productions  of  the  earth  ; 
and  no  officer  or  seaman,  or  other  per- 
son belonging  to  the  ship,  excepting 
such  as  are  so  appointed,  shall  trade 
or  offer  to  trade  for  any  sort  of  provi- 
sion, fruit,  or  other  prodnction  of  the 
earth,  unless  they  have  leave  so  to 
do. 

III.  Every    person    employed    on 
shore,    on  any  duty  whatsoever,  is 
strictly  to  attend  to  the  same  ;  and  if 
by  any  neglect  he  loseth  any  of  his 
arms  or  working  tools,  or  suffers  them 
to  be  stolen,   the  full  value  thereof 
will  be  charged  against  his  pay,  ac- 
cording to  the  custom  of  the  navy  in 
such  cases,  and  he  shall  receive  such 
further  punishment  as  the  nature  of 
the  offence  may  deserve. 

IV.  The  same  penalty  will  be  in- 


10 


COOK'S  VOYAGES. 


flicted  on  every  person  who  is  found 
to  embezzle,  trade,  or  offer  to  trade, 
with  any  part  of  the  ship's  stores  of 
what  nature  soever. 

V.  No  sort  of  iron,  or  anything 
that  is  made  of  iron,  or  any  sort  of 
cloth,  or  other  useful  or  necessary 
articles,  are  to  be  given  in  exchange 
for  anything  but  provision. 

J.  COOK. 

As  soon  as  the  ship  was  properly 
secured,  I  went  on  shore  with  Mr  Banks 
and  Dr  Solander,  a  party  of  men  under 
arms,  and  our  friend  Owhaw.  "VVe 
were  received  from  the  boat  by  some 
hundreds  of  the  inhabitants,  whose 
looks  at  least  gave  us  welcome,  though 
they  were  struck  with  such  awe,  that 
the  first  Avho  approached  us  crouched 
so  low  that  he  almost  crept  upon  his 
hands  and  knees.  It  is  remarkable, 
that  he,  like  the  people  in  the  canoes, 
presented  to  us  the  same  symbol  of 
peace  that  is  known  to  have  been  in 
use  among  the  ancient  and  mighty 
nations  of  the  northern  hemisphere — 
the  green  branch  of  a  tree.  We  re- 
ceived it  with  looks  and  gestures  of 
kindness  and  satisfaction ;  and  observ- 
ing that  each  of  them  held  one  in  his 
hand,  we  immediately  gathered  every 
one  a  bough,  and  carried  it  in  our 
hands  in  the  same  manner. 

They  marched  with  us  about  half  a 
mile  towards  the  place  where  the  Dol- 
phin had  watered,  conducted  by  Ow- 
haw ;  they  then  made  a  full  stop,  and 
having  laid  the  ground  bare,  by  clear- 
ing away  all  the  plants  that  grew 
upon  it,  the  principal  persons  among 
them  threw  their  green  branches  upon 
the  naked  spot,  and  made  signs  that 
we  should  do  the  same.  "We  immedi- 
ately showed  our  readiness  to  comply, 
and  to  give  a  greater  solemnity  to  the 
rite,  the  marines  were  drawn  up,  and 
marching  in  order,  each  dropped  his 
bough  upon  those  of  the  Indians,  and 
we  followed  their  example.  We  then 
proceeded,  and  when  we  came  to  the 
watering-place  it  was  intimated  to  us 
by  signs  that  we  might  occupy  that 
ground  ;  but  it  happened  not  to  be  fit 
for  our  purpose.  During  our  walk 
they  had  shaken  oil'  their  first  timid 


[  VOY.  I. 

sense  of  our  superiority,  and  were  be- 
come familiar :  they  went  with  us 
from  the  watering-place  and  took  a 
circuit  through  the  woods ;  as  we  went 
along,  we  distributed  beads  and  other 
small  presents  among  them,  and  had 
the  satisfaction  to  see  that  they  were 
much  gratified.  Our  circuit  was  not 
less  than  four  or  five  miles,  through 
groves  of  trees,  which  were  loaded 
with  cocoa-nuts  and  bread-fruit,  and 
afforded  the  most  grateful  shade. 
Under  these  trees  were  the  habitations 
of  the  people,  most  of  them  being  only 
a  roof  without  walls  ;  and  the  whole 
scene  realised  the  poetical  fables  of 
Arcadia.  We  remarked,  however,  not 
without  some  regret,  that  in  all  our 
walk  we  had  seen  only  two  hogs,  and 
not  a  single  fowl.  Those  of  our  com- 
pany who  had  been  here  with  the  Dol- 
phin told  us,  that  none  of  the  people 
whom  we  had  yet  seen  were  of  the  first 
class ;  they  suspected  that  the  chiefs 
had  removed,  and  upon  carrying  us  to 
the  place  where  what  they  called  the 
Queen's  Palace  had  stood,  we  found 
that  no  traces  of  it  were  left.  We 
determined  therefore, to  return  in  the 
morning,  and  endeavour  to  find  out 
the  noblesse  in  their  retreats. 

In  the  morning,  however,  before  we 
could  leave  the  ship,  several  canoes 
came  about  us,  most  of  them  from 
the  westward,  and  two  of  them  were 
filled  with  people  who  by  their  dress 
and  deportment  appeared  to  be  of  a 
superior  rank.  Two  of  these  came  on 
board,  and  each  singled  out  his  friend ; 
one  of  them,  whose  name  we  found  to 
be  Matahah,  fixed  upon  Mr  Banks, 
and  the  other  upon  me :  this  ceremony 
consisted  in  taking  off  great  part  of 
their  clothes  and  putting  them  upon 
us.  In  return  for  this,  we  presented 
each  of  them  with  a  hatchet  and  some 
beads.  Soon  after  they  made  signs 
for  us  to  go  with  them  to  the  places 
where  they  lived,  pointing  to  the  SW. ; 
and  as  I  was  desirous  of  finding  a 
more  commodious  harbour,  and  mak- 
ing further  trial  of  the  disposition  of 
the  people,  I  consented. 

I  ordered  out  two  boats,  and  with 
Mr  Banks  and  Dr  Solander,  the  other 
gentlemen,  and  our  two  Indian  friends, 


1769.1 


A  VISIT  PAID  TO  TWO  CHIEFS. 


11 


we  embarked  for  our  expedition.  After 
rowing  about  a  league,  they  made  signs 
tLat  we  should  go  on  shore,  and  gave 
us  to  understand  that  this  was  the 
place  of  their  residence.  We  accord- 
ingly landed,  among  several  hundreds 
of  the  natives,  who  conducted  us  into 
a  house  of  much  greater  length  than 
any  we  had  seen.  When  we  entered, 
we  saw  a  middle-aged  man,  whose 
name  was  afterwards  discovered  to  be 
Tootahah ;  mats  were  immediately 
spread,  and  we  were  desired  to  sit 
down  over  against  him.  Soon  after 
we  were  seated,  he  ordered  a  cock  and 
hen  to  be  brought  out,  which  he  pre- 
sented to  Mr  Banks  and  me  ;  we  ac- 
cepted the  present,  and  in  a  short 
time  each  of  us  received  a  piece  of 
cloth,  perfumed  after  their  manner, 
by  no  means  disagreeably,  which  they 
took  great  pains  to  make  us  remark. 
The  piece  presented  to  Mr  Banks  was 
eleven  yards  long  and  two  wide ;  in 
return  for  which,  he  gave  a  laced  silk 
neckcloth,  which  he  happened  to  have 
on,  and  a  linen  pocket  handkerchief. 
Tootahah  immediately  dressed  himself 
in  his  new  finery,  with  an  air  of  per- 
fect complacency  and  satisfaction. 
But  it  is  now  time  that  I  should  take 
some  notice  of  the  ladies. 

Soon  after  the  interchanging  of  our 
presents  with  Tootahah,  they  attended 
us  to  several  large  houses,  in  which 
we  walked  about  with  great  freedom : 
they  snowed  us  all  the  civility  of 
which,  in  our  situation,  we  could  ac- 
cept ;  and,  on  their  part,  seemed  to 
have  no  scruple  that  would  have  pre- 
vented its  being  carried  further.  The 
houses,  which  as  I  have  observed  be- 
fore, are  all  open,  except  a  roof,  afforded 
no  place  of  retirement ;  but  the  ladies, 
by  frequently  pointing  to  the  mats 
upon  the  ground,  and  sometimes  seat- 
ing themselves  and  drawing  us  down 
upon  them,  left  us  no  room  to  doubt 
of  their  being  much  less  jealous  of 
observation  than  we  were. 

We  now  took  leave  of  our  friendly 
chief,  and  directed  our  course  along 
the  shore.  When  we  had  walked  about 
a  mile,  we  met,  at  the  head  of  a  great 
number  of  people,  another  chief, 
whose  name  was  Tubourai  Tamaide, 


with  whom  we  were  also  to  ratify  a 
treaty  of  peace,  with  the  ceremony  of 
which  we  were  now  become  better  ac- 
quainted. Having  received  the  branch 
which  he  presented  to  us,  and  given 
another  in  return,  we  laid  our  hands 
upon  our  left  breasts  and  pronounced 
the  word  "  Taio,"  which  we  supposed 
to  signify  friend.  The  chief  then  gave 
us  to  understand  that  if  we  chose  to 
eat  he  had  victuals  ready  for  us.  We 
accepted  his  offer,  and  dined  very 
heartily  upon  fish,  bread-fruit,  cocoa- 
nuts,  and  plantains,  dressed  after  their 
manner ;  they  ate  some  of  their  fish 
raw,  and  raw  fish  was  offered  to  us, 
but  we  declined  that  part  of  the  enter- 
tainment. 

During  this  visit  a  wife  of  OUT  noble 
host,  whose  name  was  Tomio,  did  Mr 
Banks  the  honour  to  place  herself 
upon  the  same  mat  close  by  him. 
Tomio  was  not  in  the  first  bloom  of 
her  youth,  nor  did  she  appear  to  have 
been  ever  remarkable  for  her  beauty  ; 
he  did  not,  therefore,  I  believe,  pay 
her  the  most  flattering  attention.  It 
happened,  too,  as  a  further  mortifica- 
tion to  this  lady,  that  seeing  a  very 
pretty  girl  among  the  crowd,  he,  not 
adverting  to  the  dignity  of  his  com- 
panion, beckoned  her  to  come  to  him. 
The  girl,  after  some  entreaty  com- 
plied, and  sat  down  on  the  other  side 
of  him  ;  he  loaded  her  with  beads  and 
every  showy  trifle  that  would  please 
her.  His  princess,  though  she  was 
somewhat  mortified  at  the  preference 
that  was  given  to  her  rival,  did  not 
discontinue  her  civilities,  but  still  as- 
siduously supplied  him  with  the  milk 
of  the  cocoa-nut,  and  such  other  dain- 
ties as  were  in  her  reach.  This  scene 
might  possibly  have  become  more 
curious  and  interesting  if  it  had  not 
been  suddenly  interrupted  by  an  inter- 
lude of  a  more  serious  kind.  Just  at 
this  time,  Dr  Solander  and  Mr  Monk- 
house  complained  that  their  pockets 
had  been  picked.  Dr  Solander  had 
lost  an  opera-glass  in  a  shagreen  case, 
and  Mr  Monkhouse  his  snuff-box. 
This  incident  unfortunately  put  an 
end  to  the  good-humour  of  the  corn- 
pan  j.  Complaint  of  the  injury  was 
e  to  the  chief;  and,  to  give  it 


12 


COOK'S  VOYAGES. 


tVOT.  I. 


weight,  Mr  Banks  started  up  and 
hastily  struck  the  butt  end  of  his  fire- 
lock upon  the  ground.  This  action, 
and  the  noise  that  accompanied  it, 
struck  the  whole  assembly  with  a 
panic ;  and  every  one  of  the  natives 
ran  out  of  the  house  with  the  utmost 
precipitation,  except  the  chief,  three 
women,  and  two  or  three  others  who 
appeared  by  their  dress  to  be  of  a  supe- 
rior rank. 

The  chief,  with  a  mixture  of  confu- 
sion and  concern,  took  Mr  Banks  by 
the  hand,  and  led  him  to  a  large  quan- 
tity of  cloth  which  lay  at  the  other 
end  of  the  house ;  this  he  offered  to 
him  piece  by  piece,  intimating  by 
signs,  that  if  that  would  atone  for  the 
wrong  which  had  been  done,  he  might 
take  any  part  of  it,  or,  if  he  pleased, 
the  whole.  Mr  Banks  put  it  by,  and 
gave  him  to  understand  that  he  wanted 
nothing  but  what  had  been  dishonestly 
taken  away.  Toubourai  Tamaide  then 
went  hastily  out,  leaving  Mr  Banks 
with  his  wife  Tomio,  who,  during  the 
whole  scene  of  terror  and  confusion, 
had  kept  constantly  at  his  side,  and 
intimating  his  desire  that  he  should 
wait  there  till  his  return.  Mr  Banks 
accordingly  sat  down  and  conversed 
with  her,  as  well  as  he  could  by  signs, 
about  half  an  hour.  The  chief  then 
came  back  with  the  snuff-box  and  the 
case  of  the  opera-glass  in  his  hand, 
and,  with  a  joy  in  his  countenance 
that  was  painted  with  a  strength  of 
expression  which  distinguishes  these 
people  from  all  others,  delivered  them 
to  the  owners.  The  case  of  the  opera- 
glass,  however,  upon  being  opened, 
was  found  to  be  empty ;  upon  this  dis- 
covery, his  countenance  changed  in  a 
moment;  and  catching  Mr  Banks 
again  by  the  hand,  he  rushed  out  of 
the  house  without  uttering  any  sound, 
and  led  him  along  the  shore,  walking 
with  great  rapidity.  "When  they  had 
got  about  a  mile  from  the  house,  a 
woman  met  him  and  gave  him  a  piece 
of  cloth,  which  he  hastily  took  from 
her,  and  continued  to  press  forward 
with  it  in  his  hand.  Dr  Solander  and 
Mr  Monkhouse  had  followed  them, 
and  they  came  at  length  to  a  house 
where  they  were  received  by  a  wom'an, 


to  whom  he  gave  the  cloth,  and  intim- 
ated to  the  gentlemen  that  they  should 
give  her  some  beads.  They  immedi- 
ately complied ;  and  the  beads  and 
cloth  being  deposited  upon  the  floor, 
the  woman  went  out,  and  in  about 
half-an-hour  returned  with  the  opera- 
glass,  expressing  the  same  joy  upon  the 
occasionthat  had  before  been  expressed 
by  the  chief.  The  beads  were  now 
returned,  with  an  inflexible  resolution 
not  to  accept  them ;  and  the  cloth 
was  with  the  same  pertinacity  forced 
upon  Dr  Solander  as  a  recompense  for 
the  injury  that  had  been  done  him. 
He  could  not  avoid  accepting  the 
cloth,  but  insisted  in  his  turn  upon 
giving  a  new  present  of  beads  to  the 
woman.  It  will  not  perhaps  be  easy 
to  account  for  all  the  steps  that  were 
taken  in  the  recovery  of  this  glass  and 
snuff-box  ;  but  this  cannot  be  thought 
strange,  considering  that  the  scene  of 
action  was  among  a  people  whose  lan- 
guage, policy,  and  connections  are 
even  now  but  imperfectly  known. 
Upon  the  whole,  however,  they  show 
an  intelligence  and  influence  which 
would  do  honour  to  any  system  of 
government,  however  regular  and  im- 
proved. In  the  evening,  about  (5 
o'clock,  we  returned  to  the  ship. 

On  the  next  morning,  Saturday  the 
15th,  several  of  the  chiefs  whom  we 
had  seen  the  day  before  came  on  board, 
arid  brought  with  them  hogs,  bread- 
fruit, and  other  refreshments,  for  which 
we  gave  them  hatchets  and  linen,  and 
such  things  as  seemed  to  be  most  ac- 
ceptable. 

As  in  my  excursion  to  the  westward 
I  had  not  found  any  more  convenient 
harbour  than  that  in  which  we  lay,  I 
determined  to  go  on  shore  and  fix 
upon  some^  spot,  commanded  by  the 
ship's  guns',  where  I  might  throw  up  a 
small  fort  for  our  defence,  and  prepare 
for  making  our  astronomical  observa- 
tion. I  therefore  took  a  party  of  men 
and  landed  without  delay,  accompanied 
by  Mr  Banks,  Dr  Solander,  and  the 
astronomer,  Mr  Green.  We  soon  fixed 
upon  a  part  of  the  sandy  beach  on  the 
NE.  point  of  the  bay,  which  was  in 
every  respect  convenient  for  our  pur- 
pose, and  not  near  any  habitation  of 


1763.] 


DISTURBANCE  WITH  THE  NATIVES. 


13 


the  natives.  Having  marked  out  the 
ground  that  we  intended  to  occupy,  a 
small  tent  belonging  to  Mr  Banks  was 
set  up,  which  had  been  brought  on 
shore  for  that  purpose  ;  by  this  time 
a  great  number  of  the  people  had 
gathered  about  us,  but,  as  it  appeared, 
only  to  look  on,  there  not  being  a 
single  weapon  of  any  kind  among 
them.  I  intimated,  however,  that 
none  of  them  were  to  come  within  the 
line  I  had  drawn,  except  one,  who  ap- 
peared to  be  a  chief,  and  Owhaw.  To 
these  two  persons  I  addressed  myself 
by  signs,  and  endeavoured  to  make 
them  understand  that  we  wanted  the 
ground  which  we  had  marked  out  to 
sleep  upon  for  a  certain  number  of 
nights,  and  that  then  we  should  go 
away.  Whether  I  was  understood,  I 
cannot  certainly  determine  ;  but  the 
people  behaved  with  a  deference  and 
respect  that  at  once  pleased  and  sur- 
prised us  ;  they  sat  down  peaceably 
without  the  circle,  and  looked  on, 
without  giving  us  any  interruption, 
till  we  had  done,  which  was  upwards 
of  two  hours.  As  we  had  seen  no 
poultry,  and  but  two  hogs,  in  our 
walk  when  we  were  last  on  shore  at 
this  place,  we  suspected  that  upon  our 
arrival  they  had  been  driven  farther 
up  the  country;  and  the  rather,  as 
Owhaw  was  very  importunate  with 
us,  by  signs,  not  to  go  into  the  woods, 
which,  however,  and  partly  for  these 
reasons,  we  were  determined  to  do. 
Having  therefore  appointed  the  thir- 
teen marines  and  a  petty  officer  to 
guard  the  tent,  we  set  out,  and  a 
great  number  of  the  natives  joined 
OUT  party.  As  we  were  crossing  a 
little  river  that  lay  in  our  way,  we 
saw  some  ducks,  and  Mr  Banks,  as 
soon  as  he  had  got  over,  fired  at  them, 
and  happened  to  kill  three  at  one 
shot.  This  struck  [the  natives]  with 
the  utmost  terror,  so  that  most  of  them 
fell  suddenly  to  the  ground  as  if  they 
also  had  been  shot  at  the  same  dis- 
charge. It  was  not  long,  however, 
before  they  recovered  from  their  fright, 
and  we  continued  our  route  ;  but  we 
had  not  gone  far  before  we  were  alarm- 
ed by  the  report  of  two  pieces,  which 
were  fired  by  the  guard  at  the  tent. 


We  had  then  straggled  a  little  distance 
from  each  other,  but  Owhaw  immedi- 
ately called  us  together,  and  by  waving 
his  hand,  sent  away  every  Indian  who 
folio  wed  us  except  three,  each  of  whom, 
as  a  pledge  of  peace  on  their  part,  and 
an  entreaty  that  there  might  be  peace 
on  ours,  hastily  broke  a  branch  from 
the  trees,  and  came  to  us  with  it  in 
their  hands.  As  we  had  too  much 
reason  to  fear  that  some  mischief  had 
happened,  we  hastened  back  to  the 
tent,  which  was  not  distant  above  half- 
a-mile ;  and  when  we  came  up,  we 
found  it  entirely  deserted,  except  by 
our  own  people. 

It  appeared  that  one  of  the  Indians 
who  remained  about  the  tent  after  we 
left  it,  had  watched  his  opportunity, 
and,  taking  the  sentry  unawares,  had 
snatched  away  his  musket.  Upon 
this  the  petty  officer,  a  midshipman, 
who  commanded  the  party — perhaps 
from  a  sudden  fear  of  further  violence, 
perhaps  from  the  natural  petulance 
of  power  newly  acquired,  and  perhaps 
from  a  brutality  in  his  nature— ordered 
the  marines  to  fire.  The  men,  with  as 
little  consideration  or  humanity  as 
the  officer,  immediately  discharged 
their  pieces  among  the  thickest  of  the 
flying  crowd,  consisting  of  more  than 
a  hundred ;  and,  observing  that  the 
thief  did  not  fall,  pursued  him  and 
shot  him  dead.  We  afterwards  learned 
that  none  of  the  others  were  either 
killed  or  wounded.  Owhaw,  who  had 
never  left  us,  observing  that  we  were 
now  totally  deserted,  got  together  a 
few  of  those  who  had  fled,  though  not 
without  some  difficulty,  and  ranged 
them  about  us.  We  endeavoured  to 
justify  our  people  as  well  as  we  could, 
and  to  convince  the  Indians  that  if 
they  did  no  wrong  to  us,  we  should 
do  no  wrong  to  them.  They  went 
away  without  any  appearance  of  dis- 
trustorresentment ;  aud  having  struck 
our  tent,  we  returned  to  the  ship,  but 
by  no  means  satisfied  with  the  trans- 
actions of  the  day. 

Upon  questioning  our  people  more 
particularly,  whose  conduct  they  soon 
perceived  we  could  not  approve,  they 
alleged  that  the  sentinel  whose  musket 
was  taken  away,  was  violently  assault- 


14 


COOK'S  VOYAGES. 


[Vov. 


ea  and  thrown  down,  and  that  a  push 
was  afterwards  made  at  him  by  the 
man  who  took  the  musket,  before  any 
command  was  given  to  fire.  It  was 
also  suggested,  that  Owhaw  had  sus- 
picions, at  least,  if  not  certain  know- 
ledge, that  something  would  be  at- 
tempted against  our  people  at  the  tent, 
which  made  him  so  very  earnest  in 
his  endeavours  to  prevent  our  leaving 
it.  Others  imputed  his  importunity  to 
his  desire  that  we  should  confine  our- 
selves to  the  beach  :  and  it  was  re- 
marked that  neither  Owhaw,  nor  the 
chiefs  who  remained  with  us  after  he 
had  sent  the  rest  of  the  people  away, 
would  have  inferred  the  breach  of 
peace  from  the  firing  at  the  tent,  if 
they  had  had  no  reason  to  suspect  that 
some  injury  had  been  offered  by  their 
countrymen  ;  especially  as  Mr  Banks 
had  just  fired  at  the  ducks.  And  yet 
that  they  did  infer  a  breach  of  peace 
from  that  incident,  was  manifest  from 
their  waving  their  hands  for  the  peo- 
ple to  disperse,  and  instantly  pulling 
green  branches  from  the  trees.  But 
what  were  the  real  circumstances  of 
this  unhappy  affair,  and  whether 
either,  and  which  of  these  conjectures 
were  true,  could  never  certainly  be 
known. 

The  next  morning  but  few  of  the 
natives  were  seen  upon  the  beach,  and 
not  one  of  them  came  off  to  the  ship. 
This  convinced  us  that  our  endeavours 
to  quiet  their  apprehensions  had  not 
been  effectual  ;  and  we  remarked  with 
particular  regret,  that  we  were  deserted 
even  by  Owhaw,  who  had  hitherto 
been  so  constant  in  his  attachment, 
and  so  active  in  renewing  the  peace 
that  had  been  broken.  Appearances 
being  thus  unfavourable,  I  warped 
the  ship  nearer  to  the  shore,  and 
moored  her  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
command  all  the  NE.  part  of  the  bay, 
particularly  the  place  which  I  had 
marked  out  for  building  a  fort.  In 
the  evening,  however,  I  went  on  shore 
with  only  a  boat's  crew,  and  some  of 
the  gentlemen.  The  natives  gathered 
about  us,  but  not  in  the  same  num- 
ber as  before.  There  were,  I  believe, 
between  thirty  and  forty,  and  they 
trafficked  with  ns  for  cocoa-nuts  and 


other  fruit,  to  all  appearance  as  friendly 
as  ever. 

On  the  17th,  early  in  the  morning, 
we  had  the  misfortune  to  lose  Mr 
Buchan,  the  person  whom  Mr  Banks 
had  brought  out  as  a  painter  of  land- 
scapes and  figures.  He  was  a  sober, 
diligent,  and  ingenious  young  man, 
and  greatly  regretted  by  Mr  Banks  ; 
who  hoped,  by  his  means,  to  have 
gratified  his  friends  in  England  with 
representations  of  this  country  and 
its  inhabitants,  which  no  other  per- 
son on  board  could  delineate  with  the 
same  accuracy  and  elegance.  He  had 
always  been  subject  to  epileptic  fits, 
one  of  which  seized  him  on  the  moun- 
tains of  Tierra  del  Fuego  ;  and  this 
disorder  being  aggravated  by  a  bilious 
complaint  which  he  contracted  on 
board  the  ship,  at  length  put  an  end 
to  his  life.  It  was  at  first  proposed 
to  bury  him  on  shore,  but  Mr  Banks 
thinking  that  it  might  perhaps  give 
offence  to  the  natives,  with  whose 
customs  we  were  then  wholly  unac- 
quainted, we  committed  his  body  to 
the  sea,  with  as  much  decency  and 
solemnity  as  our  circumstances  and 
situation  would  admit. 

In  the  forenoon  of  this  day  we  re- 
ceived a  visit  from  Tubourai  Tamaide, 
and  Tootahah,  our  chiefs,  from  the 
west  :  they  brought  with  them,  as 
emblems  of  peace,  not  branches  of 
plantain,  but  two  young  trees,  and 
would  not  venture  on  board  till  these 
had  been  received  ;  having  probably 
been  alarmed  by  the  mischief  which 
had  been  done  at  the  tent.  Each  of 
them  also  brought,  as  propitiatory 
gifts,  some  bread-fruit,  and  a  hog 
ready  dressed.  This  was  a  most  ac- 
ceptable present,  as  we  perceived  that 
hogs  were  not  always  to  be  got  ;  and 
in  return  we  gave  to  each  of  our  noble 
benefactors  a  hatchet  and  a  nail.  In 
the  evening  we  went  on  shore  and  set 
up  a  tent,  in  which  Mr  Green  and 
myself  spent  the  night,  in  order  to 
observe  an  eclipse  of  the  first  satellite 
of  Jupiter  ;  but  the  weather  becoming 
cloudy,  we  were  disappointed. 

On  the  18th,  at  daybreak,  I  went 
on  shore,  with  as  many  people  as 
could  possibly  be  spared  from  the 


1769.] 

ship,  and  began  to  erect  our  fort. 
While  some  were  employed  in  throw- 
ing up  entrenchments,  others  were 
busy  in  cutting  pickets  and  fascines, 
;  which  the  natives,  who  soon  gathered 
round  us  as  they  had  been  used  to  do, 
were  so  far  from  hindering,  that  many 
of  them  voluntarily  assisted  us,  bring- 
ing the  pickets  and  fascines  from  the 
wood  where  they  had  been  cut,  with 
great  alacrity.  We  had,  indeed,  been 
so  scrupulous  of  invading  their  pro- 
perty, that  we  purchased  every  stake 
which  was  used  upon  this  occasion, 
and  cut  down  no  tree  till  we  had  first 
obtained  their  consent.  The  soil 
where  we  constructed  our  fort  was 
sandy,  and  this  made  it  necessary  to 
strengthen  the  entrenchments  with 
wood  ;  three  sides  were  to  be  fortified 
in  this  manner;  the  fourth  was 
bounded  by  a  river,  upon  the  banks 
of  which  I  proposed  to  place  a  proper 
number  of  water-casks.  This  day  we 
served  pork  to  the  ship's  company  for 
the  first  time,  and  the  Indians  brought 
down  so  much  bread-fruit  and  cocoa- 
nuts,  that  we  found  it  necessary  to 
send  away  part  of  them  unbought, 
and  to  acquaint  them  by  signs,  that 
we  should  want  no  more  for  two  days 
to  come.  Everything  was  purchased 
this  day  with  beads ;  a  single  bead, 
as  big  as  a  pea,  being  the  purchase  of 
five  or  six  cocoa-nuts,  and  as  many  of 
the  bread-fruit.  Mr  Banks's  tent  was 
got  up  before  night  within  the  works, 
and  he  slept  on  shore  for  the  first 
time.  Proper  sentries  were  placed 
round  it,  but  no  Indian  attempted  to 
approach  it  the  whole  night. 

The  next  morning,  our  friend  Tu- 
bourai  Tamaide  made  Mr  Banks  a 
visit  at  the  tent,  and  brought  with 
him  not  only  his  wife  and  family,  but 
the  roof  of  a  house,  and  several  mater- 
ials for  setting  it  up,  with  furniture 
and  implements  of  various  kinds,  in- 
tending, as  we  understood  him,  to 
take  up  his  residence  in  our  neighbour- 
hood. This  instance  of  his  confidence 
and  good-will  gave  us  great  pleasure, 
and  we  determined  to  strengthen  his 
attachment  to  us  by  every  means  in 
our  power.  Soon  after  his  arrival  he 
'.ook  Mr  Banks  by  the  hand,  and 


ERECTION  OF  A  FORT. 


leading  him  out  of  the  line,  signified 
that  he  should  accompany  him  into 
the  woods.  Mr  Banks  readily  con- 
sented, and  having  walked  with  him 
about  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  they  arrived 
at  a  kind  of  awning  which  he  had 
already  set  up,  and  which  seemed  to 
be  his  occasional  habitation.  Here 
he  unfolded  a  bundle  of  his  country 
cloth,  and  taking  out  two  garments, 
one  of  red  cloth,  and  the  other  of  very 
neat  matting,  he  clothed  Mr  Banks 
in  them,  and  without  any  other  cere- 
mony immediately  conducted  him 
back  to  the  tent.  His  attendants 
soon  after  brought  him  some  pork 
and  bread-fruit,  which  he  ate,  dip- 
ping his  meat  into  salt  water  instead 
of  sauce  ;  after  his  meal  he  retired  to 
Mr  Banks's  bed,  and  slept  about  an 
hour.  In  the  afternoon,  his  wife 
Tomio  brought  to  the  tent  a  young 
man  about  two-and-twenty  years  of 
age,  of  a  very  comely  appearance, 
whom  they  both  seemed  to  acknow- 
ledge as  their  son,  though  we  after- 
wards discovered  that  he  was  not  so. 
In  the  evening,  this  young  man  and 
another  chief,  who  had  also  paid  us 
a  visit,  went  away  to  the  westward, 
but  Tubourai  Tamaide  and  his  wife 
returned  to  the  awning  in  the  skirts 
of  the  wood. 

Our  surgeon,  Mr  Monkhouse,  hav 
ing  walked  out  this  evening,  reported 
that  he  had  seen  the  body  of  the  man 
who  had  been  shot  at  the  tents,  which 
he  said  was  wrapped  in  cloth,  and 
placed  on  a  kind  of  bier,  supported 
by  stakes,  under  a  roof  that  seemed 
to  have  been  set  up  for  the  purpose ; 
that  near  it  were  deposited  some  in- 
struments of  war,  and  other  things, 
which  he  would  particularly  have 
examined  but  for  the  stench  of  the 
body,  which  was  intolerable.  He 
said,  that  he  saw  also  two  more  sheds 
of  the  same  kind,  in  one  of  which 
were  the  bones  of  a  human  body  that 
had  lain  till  they  were  quite  dry. 
We  discovered,  afterwards,  that  this 
was  the  way  in  which  they  usually 
disposed  of  their  dead. 
-  A  kind  of  market  now  began  to  be 
kept  just  without  the  lines,  and  wna 
plentifully  supplied  with  everything 


16 

but  pork. 


COOK'S  VOYAGES. 


Tubourai  Tamaide  was 
our  constant  guest,  imitating  our 
manners,  even  to  the  using  of  a  knife 
and  fork,  which  he  did  very  handily. 
As  my  curiosity  was  excited  by  Mr 
Monkhouse's  account  of  the  situation 
of  the  man  who  had  been  shot,  I  took 
an  opportunity  to  go  with  some  others 
to  see  it.  I  found  the  shed  under 
which  his  body  lay,  close  by  the 
house  in  which  he  resided  when  he 
was  alive,  some  others  being  not  more 
than  ten  yards  distant ;  it  was  about 
fifteen  feet  long,  and  eleven  broad, 
and  of  a  proportionable  height ;  one 
end  was  wholly  open,  and  the  other 
end,  and  the  two  sides,  were  partly 
enclosed  with  a  kind  of  wicker  work. 
The  bier  on  which  the  corpse  was 
deposited  was  a  frame  of  wood  like 
that  in  which  the  sea-beds,  called 
cots,  are  placed,  with  a  matted  bot- 
tom, and  supported  by  four  posts,  at 
the  height  of  about  five  feet  from  the 
ground.  The  body  was  covered  first 
with  a  mat,  and  then  with  white 
cloth  ;  by  the  side  of  it  lay  a  wooden 
mace,  one  of  their  weapons  of  war, 
and  near  the  head  of  it,  which  lay 
next  to  the  close  end  of  the  shed,  lay 
two  cocoa-nut  shells,  such  as  are  some- 
times used  to  carry  water  in  ;  at  the 
other  end  a  bunch  of  green  leaves, 
with  some  dried  twigs,  all  tied  to- 
gether, were  stuck  in  the  ground,  by 
which  lay  a  stone  about  as  big  as  a 
cocoa-nut.  Near  these  lay  one  of  the 
young  plantain  trees,  which  are  used 
for  emblems  of  peace,  and  close  by  it 
a  stone  axe.  At  the  open  end  of  the 
shed  also  hung,  in  several  strings,  a 
great  number  of  palm-nuts,  and  with- 
out the  shed  was  stuck  upright  in  the 
ground  the  stem  of  a  plantain  tree 
about  five  feet  high,  upon  the  top  of 
which  was  placed  a  cocoa-nut  shell 
full  of  fresh  water.  Against  the  side 
of  one  of  the 


[V,)T.T. 

the   body, 


containing  a  few  pieces  of  bread-fruit  I  gainville 
ready  roasted,  which  were  not  all  put  | 
in  at  the  same  time,  for  some  of  them 
were  fresh;  and  others  stale.     I  took  I 
notice  that  several  of  the  natives  ob- 
served us  with  a  mixture  of  solicitude 
and  jealousy  in  their  countenances, 
and  by  their  gestures  expressed  uneasi- 


ness when  VW  went  near 
standing  themselves  at  a  little  dis« 
tance  while  we  were  making  our  exa- 
mination, and  appearing  to  be  pleased 
when  we  came  away. 

Our  residence  on  shore  would  by 
no  means  have  been  disagreeable  if 
we  had  not  been  incessantly  torment- 
ed by  the  flies,  which,  among  other 
mischief,  made  it  almost  impossible 
for  Mr  Parkinson,  Mr  Bank's  natural 
history  painter,  to  work ;  for  they  not 
only  covered  his  subject  so  as  that  no 
part  of  its  surface  could  be  seen,  but 
even  ate  the  colour  off  the  paper  as 
fast  as  he  could  lay  it  on.  We  had 
recourse  to  mosquito-nets  and  fly- 
traps, which,  though  they  made  the 
inconvenience  tolerable,  were  very  far 
from  removing  it. 

On  the  22d,  Tootahah  gave  us  a 
specimen  of  the  music  of  this  country  : 
four  persons  performed  upon  flutes, 
which  had  only  two  stops,  and  there- 
fore could  not  sound  more  than  four 
notes  by  half  tones.  They  were 
sounded  like  our  German  flutes,  ex- 
cept that  the  performer,  instead  of 
applying  it  to  his  mouth,  blew  into 
it  with  one  nostril,  while  he  stopped 
the  other  with  his  thumb.  To  these 
instruments  four  other  persons  sung, 
and  kept  very  good  time;  but  only 
one  tune  was  played  during  the  whole 
concert. 

Several  of  the  natives  brought  u* 
axes,  which  they  had  received  from 
on  board  the  Dolphin,  to  grind  and 
repair;  but  among  others  there  was 
one  which  became  the  subject  of  much 
speculation,  as  it  appeared  to  be 
French.  After  much  inquiry,  we 
learned  that  a  ship  had  been  here 
between  our  arrival  and  the  departure 
of  the  Dolphin,  which  we  then  con- 
jectured to  have  been  a  Spaniard,  but 
afterwards  knew  to  have  been  tho 
Boudeuse,  commanded  by  M.  de  Bou- 


On  the  24th,  Mr  Banks  and  Dr 
Solander  examined  the  countiy  for 
several  miles  along  the  shore  to  the 
eastward.  For  about  two  miles  it 
was  flat  and  fertile;  after  tha^  the 
hills  stretched  quite  to  the  water's 
edge,  and  a  little  farther  ran  cut  into 


1769.1 

the  sea,  so  that  they  were  obliged  to 
climb  over  them.  These  hills,  which 
were  barren,  continued  for  about  three 
miles  more,  and  then  terminated  in  a 
large  plain,  which  was  full  of  good 
houses,  and  people  who  appeared  to 
live  in  great  affluence.  In  this  place 
there  was  a  river,  much  more  con- 
siderable than  that  at  our  fort,  which 
issued  from  a  deep  and  beautiful  val- 
ley, and  where  our  travellers  crossed 
it,  though  at  some  distance  from  the 
sea,  was  near  100  yards  wide.  About 
a  mile  beyond  this  river  the  country 
became  again  barren,  the  rocks  every- 
where projecting  into  the  sea,  for 
which  reason  they  resolved  to  return. 
Just  as  they  had  formed  this  resolu- 
tion, one  of  the  natives  offered  them 
refreshment,  which  they  accepted. 
They  found  this  man  to  be  of  a  kind 
that  has  been  described  by  various 
authors  as  mixed  with  many  nations, 
but  distinct  from  them  all.  His  skin 
was  of  a  dead  white,  without  the  least 
appearance  of  what  is  called  com- 
plexion, though  some  parts  of  his 
body  were  in  a  small  degree  less  white 
than  others;  his  hair,  eyebrows,  and 
beard  were  as  white  as  his  skin ;  his 
eyes  appeared  as  if  they  were  blood- 
shot, and  he  seemed  to  be  very  short- 
sighted. At  their  return  they  were 
met  by  Tubourai  Tamaide  and  his 
women,  who,  at  seeing  them,  felt  a 
joy  which  not  being  able  to  express, 
they  burst  into  tears,  and  wept  some 
time  before  their  passion  could  be  re- 
strained. 

This  evening  Dr  Solander  lent  his 
knife  to  one  of  these  women,  who 
neglected  to  return  it,  and  the  next 
morning  Mr  Banks's  also  was  missing. 
Upon  this  occasion  I  must  bear  my 
testimony  that  the  people  of  this 
country,  of  all  ranks,  men  and  women, 
are  the  arrantest  thieves  upon  the 
face  of  the  earth.  The  very  day  after 
we  arrived  here,  when  they  came  on 
board  us,  the  chiefs  were  employed 
in  stealing  what  they  could  in  the 
cabin,  and  their  dependants  were  no 
less  industrious  in  other  parts  of  the 
ship  :  they  snatched  up  everything 
that  it  was  possible  for  them  to  se- 
crete, till  they  got  on  shore,  even  to 


CASES  OF  THEFT. 


17 


the  glass  ports,  two  of  which  they 
carried  off  undetected.  Tubourai 
Tamaide  was  the  only  one  except 
Tootahah  who  had  not  been  found 
guilty,  and  the  presumption,  arising 
from  this  circumstance,  that  he  was 
exempt  from  a  vice  of  which  the 
whole  nation  besides  were  guilty, 
could  not  be  supposed  to  outweigh 
strong  appearances  to  the  contrary. 
Mr  Banks,  therefore,  though  not 
without  some  reluctance,  accused  him 
of  having  stolen  his  knife.  He 
solemnly  and  steadily  denied  that  he 
knew  anything  of  it ;  upon  which  Mr 
Banks  made  him  understand  that 
whoever  had  taken  it,  be  was  deter- 
mined to  have  it  returned.  Upon 
this  resolute  declaration,  one  of  the 
natives  who  was  present  produced  a 
rag  in  which  three  knives  were  very 
carefully  tied  up.  One  was  that 
which  Dr  Solander  had  lent  to  the 
woman,  another  was  a  table  knife 
belonging  to  me,  and  the  owner  of 
the  third  was  not  known.  With  tkese 
the  chief  immediately  set  out  in  order 
to  make  restitution  of  them  to  their 
owners  at  the  tents.  Mr  Banks  re- 
mained with  the  women,  who  ex- 
pressed great  apprehensions  that  some 
mischief  was  designed  against  their 
lord.  When  he  came  to  the  tents, 
he  restored  one  of  the  knives  to  Dr 
Solander  and  another  to  me,  the  third 
not  being  owned,  and  then  began  to 
search  for  Mr  Banks's  in  all  the  places 
where  he  had  ever  seen  it.  After 
some  time,  one  of  Mr  Banks's  ser- 
vants, understanding  what  he  was 
about,  immediately  fetched  his  mas- 
ter's knife,  which  it  seems  he  had 
laid  by  the  day  before,  and  till  now 
knew  nothing  of  its  having  been 
missed.  Tubourai  Tamaide,  upon 
this  demonstration  of  his  innocence, 
expressed  the  strongest  emotions  of 
mind,  both  in  his  looks  and  gestures ; 
the  tears  started  from  his  eyes,  and 
he  made  signs  with  the  knife,  that, 
if  he  was  ever  guilty  of  such  an  action 
as  had  been  imputed  to  him,  he  would 
submit  to  have  his  throat  cut.  He 
then  rushed  out  of  the  lines,  and 
returned  hastily  to  Mr  Banks,  with  a 
countenance  that  severely  reproached 
B 


18 

him  with  his  suspicions.  Mr  Banks 
soon  understood  that  the  knife  had 
been  received  from  his  servant,  and 
was  scarcely  less  affected  at  what  had 
happened  than  the  chief;  he  felt 
himself  to  be  the  guilty  person,  and 
was  very  desirous  to  atone  for  his 
fault.  The  poor  Indian,  however 
violent  his  passions,  was  a  stranger 
to  sullen  resentment;  and  upon  Mr 
Banks's  spending  a  little  time  famil- 
iarly with  him,  and  making  him  a 
few  trifling  presents,  he  forgot  the 
wrong  that  had  been  done  him,  and 
was  perfectly  reconciled. 

Upon  this  occasion  it  may  be  ob- 
served that  these  people  have  a  know- 
ledge of  right  and  wrong  from  the 


mere  dictates  of  natural  conscience; 
and  in  voluntarily  condemn  themselves 
when  they  do  that  to  others  which 
they  would  condemn  others  for  doing 
to  them.  That  Tubourai  Tamaide 
felt  the  force  of  moral  obligation,  is 
certain ;  for  the  imputation  of  an  ac- 
tion which  he  considered  as  indiffer- 
ent, would  not,  when  it  appeared  to 
be  groundless,  have  moved  him  with 
such  excess  of  passion.  We  must 
indeed  estimate  the  virtue  of  these 
people  by  the  conformity  of  their 
conduct  to'  what  in  their  opinion  is 
right ;  but  we  must  not  hastily  con- 
clude that  theft  is  a  testimony  of  the 
same  depravity  in  them  that  it  is  in 
us,  in  the  instances  in  which  our 
people  were  sufferers  by  their  dis- 
honesty ;  for  their  temptation  was 
such  as  to  surmount,  would  be  con- 
sidered as  a  proof  of  uncommon  in- 
tegrity among  those  who  have  more 
knowledge,  better  principles,  and 
stronger  motives  to  resist  the  tempta- 
tions of  illicit  advantage.  An  Indian 
among  penny  knives  and  beads,  or 
even  nails  and  broken  glass,  is  in  the 
same  state  of  trial  with  the  meanest 
servant  in  Europe  among  unlocked 
coffers  of  jewels  and  gold. 

On  the  26th  I  mounted  six  swivel 
guns  upon  the  fort,  which  I  was  sorry 
to  see  struck  the  natives  with  dread. 
Some  fishermen  who  lived  upon  the 
point  removed  farther  off,  and  Owhaw 
told  us,  by  signs,  that  in  four  days 
we  should  fire  great  guns. 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.  [VoY.l- 

On  the  27th,  Tubourai  Tamaide, 
with  a  friend,  who  ate  with  a  voracity 
that  I  never  saw  before,  and  the 
three  women  that  usually  attended 
him,  whose  names  were  Terapo,  Tirao, 
and  Omie,  dined  at  the  fort.  In  the 
evening  they  took  their  leave,  and 
set  out  for  the  house  which  Tubourai 
Tamaide  had  set  up  in  the  skirts  of 
the  wood  ;  but  in  less  than  a  quarter 
of  an  hour  he  returned  in  great  emo- 
tion, and  hastily  seizing  Mr  Banks's 
arm,  made  signs  that  he  should  fol- 
low him.  Mr  Banks  immediately 
complied,  and  they  soon  came  to  a 
place  where  they  found  the  ship's 
butcher,  with  a  reaping-hook  in  his 
hand.  Here  the  chief  stopped,  and, 


in  a  transport  of  rage  which  rendered 
his  signs  scarcely  intelligible,  inti 
mated  that  the  butcher  had  threat- 
ened, or  attempted,  to  cut  his  wife's 
throat  with  the  reaping-hook.  Mr 
Banks  then  signified  to  him,  that  if 
he  could  fully  explain  the  offence,  the 
man  should  be  punished.  Upon  this 
he  became  more  calm,  and  made  Mr 
Banks  understand  that  the  offender, 
having  taken  a  fancy  to  a  stone 
hatchet  which  lay  in  his  house,  had 
offered  to  purchase  it  of  his  wife  for  a 
nail ;  that  she  having  refused  to  part 
with  it  upon  any  terms,  he  had 
catched  it  up,  and  throwing  down 
the  nail,  threatened  to  cut  her  throat 
if  she  made  any  resistance.  To  prove 
this  charge,  the  hatchet  and  the  nail 
were  produced ;  and  the  butcher  had 
so  little  to  say  in  his  defence,  that 
there  was  not  the  least  reason  to 
doubt  of  its  truth. 

Mr  Banks  having  reported  this 
matter  to  me,  I  took  an  opportunity, 
when  the  chief  and  his  women,  with 
other  Indians,  were  on  board  the  ship, 
to  call  up  the  butcher,  and  after  a 
recapitulation  of  the  charge  and  the 
proof,  I  gave  orders  that  he  should 
be  punished,  as  well  to  prevent  other 
offences  of  the  same  kind,  as  to  acquit 
Mr  Banks  of  his  promise.  The  In- 
dians saw  him  stripped  and  tied  up 
to  the  rigging  with  a  fixed  attention, 
waiting  in  silent  suspense  for  the 
event ;  but  as  soon  as  the  first  stroke 
was  given,  they  interfered  with  great 


1769.] 


CHANGEABLE  TEMPERAMENT  OF  NATIVES. 


agitation,  earnestly  entreating  that 
the  rest  of  the  punishment  might  be 
remitted.  To  this,  however,  for 
many  reasons,  I  could  not  consent  ; 
and  when  they  found  that  they  could 
not  prevail  by  their  intercession,  they 
gave  vent  to  their  pity  by  tears. 

Their  tears,  indeed,  like  those  of 
children,  were  always  ready  to  express 
any  passion  that  was  strongly  excited, 
and,  like  those  of  children,  they  also 
appeared  to  be  forgotten  as  soon  as 
shed  ;  of  which  the  following,  among 
many  others,  is  a  remarkable  instance. 
Very  early  in  the  morning  of  the  28th, 
even  before  it  was  day,  a  great  num- 
ber of  them  came  down  to  the  fort, 
and  Terapo  being  observed  among  the 
women  on  the  outside  of  the  gate, 
Mr  Banks  went  out  and  brought  her 
in  ;  he  saw  that  the  tears  then  stood 
in  her  eyes,  and  as  soon  as  she  en- 
tered they  began  to  flow  in  great 
abundance.  He  .  inquired  earnestly 
the  cause,  but  instead  of  answering, 
ahe  took  from  under  her  garment  a 
shark's  tooth,  and  struck  it  six  or 
seven  times  into  her  head  with  great 
force  ;  a  profusion  of  blood  followed, 
and  she  talked  loud,  but  in  a  most 
melancholy  tone,  for  some  minutes, 
without  at  all  regarding  his  inquiries, 
which  he  repeated  with  still  more  im- 
patience and  concern,  while  the  other 
Indians,  to  his  great  surprise,  talked 
and  laughed,  without  taking  the  least 
notice  of  her  distress.  But  her  own 
behaviour  was  still  more  extraordin- 
ary. As  soon  as  the  bleeding  was 
over,  she  looked  up  with  a  smile,  and 
began  to  collect  some  small  pieces  of 
cloth,  which  during  her  bleeding  she 
had  thrown  down  to  catch  the  blood  ; 
as  soon  as  she  had  picked  them  all 
up,  she  carried  them  out  of  the  tent, 
and  threw  them  into  the  sea,  carefully 
dispersing  them  abroad,  as  if  she 
wished  to  prevent  the  sight  of  them 
from  reviving  the  remembrance  of 
what  she  had  done.  She  then  plunged 
into  the  river,  and  after  having  washed 
her  whole  body,  returned  to  the  tents 
with  the  same  gaiety  and  cheerfulness 
as  if  nothing  had  happened. 

It  is  not  indeed  strange  that  the 
sorrow**  oi  ikcsu  iirliuos  people  should 


be  transient,  any  more  than  that 
their  passions  should  be  suddenly  and 
strongly  expressed.  What  they  feel 
they  have  never  been  taught  either  to 
disguise  or  suppress,  and  having  no 
habits  of  thinking  which  perpetually 
recall  the  past,  and  anticipate  the 
future,  they  are  affected  by  all  the 
changes  of  the  passing  hour,  and  re- 
flect the  colour  of  the  time,  however 
frequently  it  may  vary.  They  have 
no  project  which  is  to  be  pursued  from 
day  to  day,  the  subject  of  unremitted 
anxiety  and  solicitude,  that  first 
rushes  into  the  mind  when  they 
awake  in  the  morning,  and  is  last  dis- 
missed when  they  sleep  at  night. 
Yet,  if  we  admit  that  they  are  upon 
the  whole  happier  than  we,  we  must 
admit  that  the  child  is  happier  than 
the  man,  and  that  we  are  losers  by  the 
perfection  of  our  nature,  the  increase 
of  our  knowledge,  and  the  enlarge- 
ment of  our  views. 

Canoes  were  continually  coming  in 
during  all  this  forenoon,  and  the 
tents  at  the  fort  were  crowded  with 
people  of  both  sexes  from  different 
parts  of  the  island.  I  was  myself 
busy  on  board  the  ship,  but  Mr  Mol- 
lineux,  our  master,  who  was  one  of 
those  that  made  the  last  voyage  in  the 
Dolphin,  went  on  shore.  As  soon  as 
he  entered  Mr  Banks's  tent,  he  fixed 
his  eyes  upon  one  of  the  women,  who 
was  sitting  there  with  great  compe- 
sure  among  the  rest,  and  immediately 
declared  her  to  be  the  person  who  at 
that  time  was  supposed  to  be  the  queen 
of  the  island ;  she  also,  at  the  same 
time,  acknowledging  him  to  be  one  of 
the  strangers  whom  she  had  seen  be- 
fore. The  attention  of  all  present 
was  now  diverted  from  every  other 
object,  and  wholly  engaged  in  con- 
sidering a  person  who  had  made  so 
distinguished  a  figure  in  the  accounts 
that  had  been  given  of  this  island  by 
its  first  discoverers ;  and  we  soon 
learned  that  her  name  was  Oberea. 
She  seemed  to  be  about  forty  years  of 
age,  and  was  not  only  tall,  but  of  a 
large  make  ;  her  skin  was  whit«,  and 
there  was  an  uncommon  intelligence 
and  sensibility  in  her  eyes.  She  ap- 
peared to  have  beeu  handsome  when 


•20 


COOK'S  VOYAGES. 


[VOY.I. 


she  was  young,  but  at  this  time  little 
more  than  memorials  of  her  beauty 
were  left. 

As  soon  as  her  quality  was  known, 
an  offer  was  made  to  conduct  her  to 
the  ship.  Of  this  she  readily  accepted, 
and  came  on  board  with  two  men  and 
several  women,  who  seemed  to  be  all 
of  her  family.  I  received  her  with 
such  marks  of  distinction  as  I  thought 
would  gratify  her  most,  and  was  not 
sparing  of  my  presents,  among  which 
this  august  personage  seemed  particu- 
larly delighted  with  a  child's  doll. 
After  some  time  spent  on  board,  I  at- 
tended her  back  to  the  shore  ;  and  as 
soon  as  we  landed,  she  presented  me 
with  a  hog,  and  several  bunches  of 
plantains,  which  she  caused  to  be 
carried  from  her  canoes  up  to  the  fort 
in  a  kind  of  procession,  of  which  she 
and  myself  brought  up  the  rear.  In 
our  way  to  the  fort  we  met  Tootahah, 
who,  though  not  king,  appeared  to  be 
at  this  time  in  vested  with  the  sovereign 
authority.  He  seemed  not  to  be  well 
pleased  with  the  distinction  that  was 
shown  to  the  lady,  and  became  so 
jealous  when  she  produced  her  doll, 
that  to  propitiate  him  it  was  thought 
proper  to  compliment  him  with  an- 
other. At  this  time  he  thought  fit 
to  prefer  a  doll  to  a  hatchet ;  but  this 

Eference  arose  only  from  a  childish 
lousy,  which  could  not  be  soothed 
;  by  a  gift  of  exactly  the  same  kind 
with  that  which  had  been  presented 
to  Oberea ;  for  dolls  in  a  very  short 
time  were  universally  considered  as 
trifles  of  no  value. 

The  men  who  had  visited  us  from 
time  to  time  had,  with  out  scruple,  eaten 
of  our  provisions  ;  but  the  women  had 
never  yet  been  prevailed  upon  to  taste 
a  morsel.  To  day,  however,  though 
they  refused  the  most  pressing  solicita- 
tions to  dine  with  the  gentlemen,  they 
afterwards  retired  to  the  servants' 
apartment,  and  ate  of  plantains  very 
heartily  ;  a  mystery  of  female  econo- 
my here,  which  none  of  us  could  ex- 
plain. 

On  the  29th,  not  very  early  in  the 
forenoon,  Mr  Banks  went  to  pay  his 
court  to  Oberea,  and  was  told  that  she 
was  still  asleep  under  the  awning  of 


her  canoe.      Thither,    therefore,    he 
went,   intending  to  call  her  up,   a 
liberty  which  he  thought  he  might 
take  without  any  danger  of  giving 
offence.     But,  upon  looking  into  her 
chamber,  to  his  great  astonishment 
he  found  her  in  bed  with  a  handsome   . 
young  fellow  about  five-and-twenty, 
whose  name  was  Obade"e.   He  retreated 
with  some  haste  and  confusion,  but 
was  soon  made  to  understand  that  such 
amours  gave  no  occasion  to  scandal, 
and  that  Obadee  w  as  universally  known 
to  have  been  selected  by  her  as  the 
object  of  her  private  favours.  The  lady 
being  too  polite  to  suffer  Mr  Banks  to 
wait  long  in  her  antechamber,  dressed 
herself  with  more  than  usual  expedi- 
tion, and,  as  a  token  of  special  grace, 
clothed  him  in  a  suit  of  fine  cloth,  and 
proceeded  with  him  to  the  tents.     In 
the  evening  Mr  Banks  paid  a  visit  to 
Tubourai  Tamaide,   as  he  had  often 
done  before,  by  candle  light,  and  was 
equally  grieved  and  surprised  to  find 
him  and  his  family  in  a  melancholy 
mood,  and  most  of  them  in  tears.    He 
endeavoured  in  vain  to  discover  the 
cause,  and  therefore  his  stay  among 
them  was  but  short.     When  he  re- 
ported this  circumstance  to  the  offi- 
cers at  the  fort,  they  recollected  that 
Owhaw  had  foretold  that  in  four  days 
we  should  fire  our  great  guns ;  and  as 
this  was  the  eve  of  the  third  day,  the 
situation  in  which  Tubourai  Tamaide 
and  his  family  had  been  found,  alarmed 
them.     The  sentries,  therefore,  were 
doubled  at  the  fort,  and  the  gentlemen 
slept  under  arms ;  at  two  in  the  morn- 
ing, Mr  Banks  himself  went  round 
the  point,  but  found  everything  so 
quiet  that  he  gave  up  all  suspicions  of 
mischief  intended  by  the  natives  as 
groundless.     We  had,   however,   an- 
other source  of  security ;  our  little  for- 
tification was  now  complete.      The 
north  and  south  sides  consisted  of  a 
bank  of  earth  four  feet  and  a  half  high 
on  the  inside,  and  a  ditch  without,  ten 
feet  broad  and  six  deep ;  on  the  west 
side,  facing  the  bay,  there  was  a  bank 
of  earth  four  feet  high,  and  palisadoes 
upon  that,  but  no  ditch,  the  works 
here  being  at  high- water  mark  ;  on 
the  east  side,  upon  the  bank  of  the 


TUBOUBAI  TAMAIDE'S  USE  OF  TOBACCO.  21 

was  placed  a  double  row  of  |  uncommon  flow  of  cheerfulness  and 

always   pro- 


1769.] 

river,  was  placed  a  double  row 
water-casks  filled  with  water ;  and,  as 
this  was  the  weakest  side,  the  two 
4 -pounders  were  planted  there,  and  six: 
swivel  guns  were  mounted  so  as  to 
command  the  only  two  avenues  from 
the  woods.  Our  garrison  consisted  of 
about  five-and-forty  men  with  small 
arms,  including  the  officers,  and  the 
gentlemen  who  resided  on  shore  ;  and 
our  sentries  were  as  well  relieved  as  on 
the  best  regulated  frontier  in  Europe. 
We  continued  our  vigilance  the  next 
day,  though  we  had  no  particular 
reason  to  think  it  necessary;  but 
about  10  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
Tomio  came  running  to  the  tents, 
with  a  mixture  of  grief  and  fear  in 
her  countenance,  and  taking  Mr 
Banks,  to  whom  they  applied  in  every 
emergency  and  distress,  by  the  arm, 
intimated  that  Tubourai  Tamaide  was 
dying,  in  consequence  of  something 
which  our  people  had  given  him  to 
eat,  and  that  he  must  instantly  go 
with  her  to  his  house.  Mr  Banks  set 
out  without  delay,  and  found  his 
Indian  friend  leaning  his  head  against 
a  post  in  an  attitude  of  the  utmost 
languor  and  despondency ;  the  people 
about  him  intimated  that  he  had  been 
vomiting,  and  brought  out  a  leaf 
folded  up  with  great  care,  which,  they 
said,  contained  some  of  the  poison, 
by  the  deleterious  effects  of  which  he 
was  now  dying.  Mr  Banks  hastily 
opened  the  leaf,  and  upon  examining 
its  contents,  found  them  to  be  no 
other  than  a  chew  of  tobacco,  which 
the  cbief  had  begged  of  some  of  our 
people,  and  which  they  had  indiscreetly 
given  him.  He  had  observed  that 
they  kept  it  long  in  the  mouth,  and 
being  desirous  of  doing  the  same,  he 
had  chewed  it  to  powder  and  .swal- 
lowed the  spittle.  During  the  exam- 
ination of  the  leaf  and  its  contents, 
he  looked  up  at  Mr  Banks  with  the 
most  piteous  aspect,  and  intimated 
that  he  had  but  a  very  short  time  to 
live.  Mr  Banks,  however,  being  now 
master  of  his  disease,  directed  him  to 
drink  plentifully  of  cocoa-nut  milk, 
which  in  a  short  time  put  an  end  to 
his  sickness  and  apprehensions;  and 
he  spent  the  day  at  the  fort  with  that 


good-humour  which  is 

duced  by  a  sudden  and  unexpected 

relief  from  pain  either  of  body  or 

mind. 

Captain  Wallis  having  brought 
home  one  of  the  adzes  which  these 
people— having  no  metal  of  any  kind — 
make  of  stone,  Mr  Stevens,  the  Secre- 
tary to  the  Admiralty,  procured  one 
to  be  made  of  iron  in  imitation  of  it, 
which  I  brought  out  with  me,  to  show 
how  much  we  excelled  in  making 
tools  after  their  own  fashion.  This  I 
had  not  yet  produced,  as  it  never  hap- 
pened to  come  into  my  mind.  But 
on  the  1st  of  May,  Tootahah,  coming 
on  board  about  10  o'clock  in  the  fore- 
noon, expressed  a  great  curiosity  to 
see  the  contents  of  every  chest  and 
drawer  that  was  in  my  cabin.  As  I 
always  made  a  point  of  gratifying  him, 
I  opened  them  immediately ;  and 
having  taken  a  fancy  to  many  things 
that  he  saw,  and  collected  them  to- 
gether, he  at  last  happened  to  cast  his 
eye  upon  this  adze.  He  instantly 
snatched  it  up  with  the  greatest  eager- 
ness, and,  putting  away  everything 
which  he  had  before  selected,  he  asked 
me  whether  I  would  let  him  have 
that.  I  readily  consented  ;  and,  as  if 
he  was  afraid  1  should  repent,  he  car- 
ried it  off  immediately  in  a  transport 
of  joy,  without  making  any  other  re- 
quest, which,  what  ;ver  had  been  our 
liberality,  was  seldom  the  case. 

About  noon,  a  chief  who  had  dined 
with  me  a  few  days  before,  accom- 
panied by  some  of  his  women,  came 
on  board  alone.  I  had  observed  that 
he  was  fed  by  his  women,  but  I  made 
no  doubt  that  upon  occasion  he  would 
condescend  to  feed  himself.  In  this, 
however,  I  found  myself  mistaken. 
When  my  noble  guest  was  seated,  and 
the  dinner  upon  the  table,  I  helped 
him  to  some  victuals.  As  I  observed 
that  he  did  not  immediately  begin  his 
meal,  I  pressed  him  to  eat;  but  he 
still  continued  to  sit  motionless  like  a 
statue,  without  attempting  to  put  a 
single  morsel  into  his  mouth,  and 
would  certainly  have  gone  without  his 
dinner  if  one  of  the  servants  had  not 
fed  him. 


22 


COOK'S  VOYAGES. 


(TOT.  I. 


In  the  afternoon  of  Monday  the  1st 
of  May  we  set  up  the  observatory,  and 
took  the  astronomical  quadrant,  with 
some  other  instruments,  on  shore,  for 
the  first  time.  The  next  morning, 
about  9  o'clock,  I  went  on  shore  with 
Mr  Green  to  fix  the  quadrant  in  a 
situation  for  use,  when,  to  our  inex- 
pressible surprise  and  concern,  it  was 
not  to  be  found.  It  had  been  deposited 
in  the  tent  which  was  reserved  for  my 
use,  where,  as  I  passed  the  night  on 
board,  nobody  slept.  It  had  never 
been  taken  out  of  the  packing-case, 
which  was  eighteen  inches  square,  and 
the  whole  was  of  considerable  weight ; 
a  sentinel  had  been  posted  the  whole 
night  within  five  yards  of  the  tent 
door,  and  none  of  the  other  instru- 
ments were  missing.  We  at  first  sus- 
pected that  it  might  have  been  stolen 
by  some  of  our  own  people,  who,  see- 
ing a  deal  box,  and  not  knowing  the 
contents,  might  think  it  contained 
nails,  or  some  other  subjects  of  traffic 
with  the  natives.  A  large  reward  was 
therefore  offered  to  any  one  who  could 
find  it,  as  without  this  we  could  not 
perform  the  service  for  which  our  voy- 
age was  principally  undertaken.  Our 
search  in  the  meantime  was  not  con- 
fined to  the  fort  and  places  adjacent, 
but  as  the  case  might  possibly  have 
been  carried  back  to  the  ship,  if  any 
of  our  own  people  had  been  the  thieves, 
the  most  diligent  search  was  made  for 
it  on  board.  All  the  parties,  how- 
ever, returned  without  any  news  of 
the  quadrant.  Mr  Banks,  therefore, 
who  upon  such  occasions  declined 
neither  labour  nor  risk,  and  who  had 
more  influence  over  the  Indians  than 
any  of  us,  determined  to  go  in  search 
of  it  into  the  woods  ;  he  hoped  that  if 
it  had  been  stolen  by  the  natives  he 
should  find  it  wherever  they  had  open- 
ed the  box,  as  they  would  immediately 
discover  that  to  them  it  would  be 
wholly  useless ;  or,  if  in  this  expecta- 
tion he  should  be  disappointed,  that 
he  might  recover  it  by  the  ascendancy 
he  had  acquired  over  the  chiefs.  He 
set  out,  accompanied  by  a  midship- 
man and  Mr  Green,  and  as  he  was 
crossing  the  river  he  was  met  by  Tu- 
bourai  Tamaide,  who  immediately 


made  the  figure  of  a  triangle  with 
three  bits  of  straw  upon  his  hand. 
By  this  Mr  Banks  knew  that  the  In- 
dians were  the  thieves;  and  that, 
although  they  had  opened  the  case, 
they  were  not  disposed  to  part  with 
the  contents.  No  time  was  therefore 
to  be  lost,  and  Mr  Banks  made  Tu- 
bourai  Tamaide  understand  that  he 
must  instantly  go  with  him  to  the 
place  whither  the  quadrant  had  been 
carried.  He  consented,  and  they  set 
out  together  to  the  eastward,  the  chief 
inquiring  at  every  house  which  they 
passed  after  the  thief  by  name.  The 
people  readily  told  him  which  way  he 
was  gone,  and  how  long  it  was  since 
he  had  been  there.  The  hope  which 
this  gave  them,  that  they  should  over- 
take him,  supported  them  under  their 
fatigue ;  and  they  pressed  forward, 
sometimes  walking,  sometimes  run- 
ning, though  the  weather  was  intoler- 
ably hot.  When  they  had  climbed  a 
hill  at  the  distance  of  about  four  miles, 
their  conductor  showed  them  a  point 
full  three  miles  farther,  and  gave 
them  to  understand  that  they  were 
not  to  expect  the  instrument  till  they 
had  got  thither.  Here  they  paused  ; 
they  had  no  arms,  except  a  pair  of 
pistols  which  Mr  Banks  always  car- 
ried in  his  pocket.  They  were  going 
to  a  place  that  was  at  least  seven 
miles  distant  from  the  fort,  where  the 
Indians  might  be  less  submissive  than 
at  home,  and  to  take  from  them  what 
they  had  ventured  their  lives  to  get, 
and  what,  notwithstanding  our  con- 
jectures, they  appeared  desirous  to 
keep.  These  were  discouraging  cir- 
cumstances, and  their  situation  would 
become  more  critical  at  every  step. 
They  determined,  however,  not  to  re- 
linquish their  enterprise,  nor  to  pur- 
sue it  without  taking  the  best  mea- 
sures for  their  security  that  were  in 
their  power.  It  was  therefore  deter- 
mined that  Mr  Banks  and  Mr  Green 
should  go  on,  and  that  the  midship- 
man should  return  to  me,  and  desire 
that  I  would  send  a  party  of  men  after 
them,  acquainting  me,  at  the  same 
time,  that  it  was  impossible  they 
should  return  till  it  was  dark.  Upon 
receiving  this  message,  I  set  out  with 


1760.]  THEFT  OF  A 

such  a  party  as  I  thought  sufficient 
for  the  occasion,  leaving  orders,  both 
at  the  ship  and  at  the  fort,  that  no 
canoe  should  be  suffered  to  go  out  of 
the  bay,  but  that  none  of  the  natives 
should  be  seized  or  detained. 

In  the  meantime,  Mr  Banks  and 
Mr  Green  pursued  their  journey, 
under  the  auspices  of  Tubourai  Tam- 
aide,  and  in  the  very  spot  which  he 
had  specified,  they  met  one  of  his  own 
people,  with  part  of  a  quadrant  in  his 
hand.  At  this  most  welcome  sight 
they  stopped  ;  and  a  great  number  of 
Indians  immediately  came  up,  some 
of  whom  pressing  rather  rudely  upon 
them,  Mr  Banks  thought  it  necessary 
to  show  one  of  his  pistols?*the  sight 
of  which  reduced  them  instantly  to 
order.  As  the  crowd  that  gathered 
round  them  was  every  moment  in- 
creasing, he  marked  out  a  circle  in 
the  grass,  and  they  ranged  themselves 
on  the  outside  of  it,  to  the  number  of 
several  hundreds,  with  great  quietness 
and  decorum.  Into  the  middle  of 
this  circle,  the  box,  which  was  now 
arrived,  was  ordered  to  be  brought, 
with  several  reading  glasses,  and  other 
small  matters,  which  in  their  hurry 
they  had  put  into  a  pistol-case  that 
Mr  Banks  knew  to  be  his  property — 
it  having  been  some  time  before  stolen 
from  the  tents,  with  a  horse  pistol  in 
it,  which  he  immediately  demanded, 
and  which  was  all  restored. 

Mr  Green  was  impatient  to  see 
whether  all  that  had  been  taken  away 
was  returned,  and  upon  examining 
the  box  found  the  stand,  and  a  few 
small  things  of  less  consequence  want- 
ing. Several  persons  were  sent  in 
search  of  these,  and  most  of  the  small 
things  were  returned.  But  it  was  sig- 
nified that  the  thief  had  not  brought 
the  stand  so  far,  and  that  it  would 
be  delivered  to  our  friends  as  they 
went  back  ;  this  being  confirmed  by 
Tubourai  Tamaide,  they  prepared  to 
return,  as  nothing  would  then  be 
wanting  but  what  might  easily  be 
supplied  ;  and  after  they  had  advanced 
about  two  miles,  I  met  them  with  my 
party,  to  our  mutual  satisfaction,  con- 
gratulating each  other  upon  the  re- 
covery of  the  quadrant,  with  a  pleasure 


QUADRANT.  2.3 

proportioned  to  the  importance  of  the 
event. 

About  8  o'clock,  Mr  Banks,  with 
Tubourai  Tamaide,  got  back  to  the 
fort ;  when,  to  his  great  surprise,  he 
found  Tootahah  in  custody,  and  many 
of  the  natives  in  the  utmost  terror 
and  distress,  crowding  about  the  gate. 
He  went  hastily  in,  some  of  the  In- 
dians were  suffered  to  follow  him, 
and  the  scene  was  extremely  affecting. 
Tubourai  Tamaide  pressing  forward, 
ran  up  to  Tootahah,  and  catching 
him  in  his  arms,  they  both  burst  into 
tears,  and  wept  over  each  other,  with- 
out being  able  to  speak ;  the  other 
Indians  were  also  in  tears  for  their 
chief,  both  he  and  they  being  strongly 
possessed  with  the  notion  that  he  was 
to  be  put  to  death.  In  this  situation 
they  continued  till  I  entered  the  fort, 
which  was  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour 
afterwards.  I  was  equally  surprised 
and  concerned  at  what  had  happened, 
the  confining  Tootahah  being  contrary 
to  my  orders,  and  therefore  instantly 
set  him  at  liberty.  Upon  inquiring 
into  the  affair,  1  was  told,  that  my 
going  into  the  woods  with  a  party  of 
men  under  arms,  at  a  time  when  f 
robbery  had  been  committed,  which 
it  was  supposed  I  should  resent  in 
proportion  to  our  apparent  injury  by 
the  loss,  had  so  alarmed  the  natives, 
that  in  the  evening  they  began  to 
leave  the  neighbourhood  of  the  fort, 
with  their  effects ;  that  a  double  canos 
having  been  seen  to  put  off  from  tn-3 
bottom  of  the  bay  by  Mr  Gc^e,  th« 
second  lieutenant,  who  \vas  left  in 
command  on  board  the  ship,  and  who 
had  received  orders  not  to  suffer  any 
canoe  to  go  out,  he  sent  the  boatswain 
with  a  boat  after  her  to  bring  her 
back  ;  that  as  soon  as  the  boat  came 
up,  the  Indians,  being  alarmed,  leaped 
into  the  sea  and  that,  Tootahah  being 
unfortunately  one  of  the  number,  the 
boatswain  took  him  up  and  brought 
him  to  the  ship,  suffering  the  rest  of 
the  people  to  swim  on  shore ;  that 
Mr  Gore,  not  sufficiently  attending  to 
the  order  that  none  of  the  people 
should  be  confined,  had  sent  him  to 
the  fort,  and  Mr  Hicks,  the  first  lieu- 
tenant, who  commanded  there,  receiv- 


24 


COOK'S  VOYAGES. 


ing  him  in  charge  from  Mr  Gore,  did 
not  think  himself  at  liberty  to  dismiss 
him.  The  notion  that  we  intended 
to  put  him  to  death  had  possessed 
him  so  strongly,  that  he  could  not  be 
persuaded  to  the  contrary  till  by  my 
orders  he  was  led  out  of  the  fort.  The 
people  received  him  as  they  would 
have  done  a  father  in  the  same  circum- 
stances, and  every  one  pressed  forward 
to  embrace  him.  Sudden  joy  is  com- 
monly liberal,  without  a  scrupulous 
regard  to  merit ;  and  Tootahah,  in  the 
first  expansion  of  his  heart,  upon  being 
unexpectedly  restored  to  liberty  and 
life,  insisted  upon  our  receiving  a 
present  of  two  hogs  ;  though,  being 
conscious  that  upon  this  occasion  we 
had  no  claim  to  favours,  we  refused 
them  many  times. 

Mr  Banks  and  Dr  Solander  attended 
the  next  morning  in  their  usual  capa- 
city of  market-men  ;  but  very  few 
Indians  appeared,  and  those  who  came 
brought  no  provisions.  Tootahah, 
however,  sent  some  of  his  people  for 
the  canoe  that  had  been  detained, 
which  they  took  away.  A  canoe  hav- 
ing also  been  detained  that  belonged 
to  Oberea,  Tupia,  the  person  who 
managed  her  afi'airs  when  the  Dolphin 
was  here,  was  sent  to  examine  whether 
anything  on  board  had  been  taken 
away  ;  and  he  was  so  well  satisfied  of 
the  contraiy,  that  he  left  the  canoe 
where  he  found  it,  and  joined  us  at 
the  fort,  where  he  spent  the  day,  and 
slept  on  board  the  canoe  at  night. 
About  noon,  some  fishing-boats  came 
abreast  of  the  tents,  but  would  part 
with  very  little  of  what  they  had  on 
board  ;  and  we  felt  the  want  of  cocoa- 
nuts  and  bread-fruit  very  severely. 
In  the  course  of  the  day,  Mr  Banks 
walked  out  into  the  woods,  that  by 
conversing  with  the  people  he  might 
recover  their  confidence  and  good- 
will. He  found  them  civil,  but  they 
all  complained  of  the  ill-treatment  of 
their  chief,  who,  they  said,  had  been 
beaten  and  pulled  by  the  hair.  Mr 
Banks  endeavoured  to  convince  them 
that  he  had  suffered  no  personal  vio- 
lence, which,  to  the  best  of  our  know- 
ledge, was  true ;  yet,  perhaps,  the 
boatswain  had  behaved  with  a  brutality 


(TOY.  I. 


which  he  was  afraid  or  ashamed  to 
acknowledge.  The  chief  himself  be- 
ing probably,  upon  recollection,  of 
opinion  that  we  had  ill-deserved  the 
hogs  which  he  had  left  with  us  as  a 
present,  sent  a  messenger  in  the  after- 
noon to  demand  an  axe  and  a  shirt  in 
return  ;  but  as  I  was  told  that  he  did 
not  intend  to  come  down  to  the  fort 
for  ten  days,  I  excused  myself  from 
giving  them  till  I  should  see  him, 
hoping  that  his  impatience  might 
induce  him  to  fetch  them,  and  know- 
ing that  absence  would  probably  con- 
tinue the  coolness  between  us,  to 
which  the  first  interview  might  put 
an  end. 

The  next  day  we  were  still  more 
sensible  of  the  inconvenienc.0  we  had 
incurred  by  giving  offence  to  the  peo- 
ple in  the  person  of  their  chief ;  for 
the  market  was  so  ill  supplied  that 
we  were  in  want  of  necessaries.  Mr 
Banks  therefore  went  into  the  woods 
to  Tubourai  Tamaide,  and  with  some 
difficulty  persuaded  him  to  let  us  have 
five  baskets  of  bread-fruit ;  a  very 
seasonable  supply,  as  they  contained 
above  120.  In  the  afternoon  another 
messenger  arrived  from  Tootahah  for 
the  axe  and  shirt.  As  it  was  now  be- 
come absolutely  necessary  to  recover 
the  friendship  of  this  man,  without 
which  it  would  be  scarcely  possible  to 
procure  provisions,  I  sent  word  that 
Mr  Banks  and  myself  would  visit  him 
on  the  morrow,  and  bring  what  he 
wanted  with  us. 

Early  the  next  morning  he  sent 
again  to  remind  me  of  my  promise, 
and  his  people  seemed  to  wait,  till  we 
should  set  out,  with  great  impatience. 
I  therefore  ordered  the  pinnace,  in 
which  I  embarked  with  Mr  Banks 
and  Dr  Solander  about  10  o'clock. 
We  took  one  of  Tootahah's  people  in 
the  boat  with  us,  and  in  about  an 
hour  we  arrived  at  his  place  of  resi- 
dence, which  is  called  Eparre,  and  is 
about  four  miles  to  the  westward  of 
the  tents. 

We  found  the  people  waiting  for  us 
in  great  numbers  upon  the  shore,  so 
that  it  would  have  been  impossible 
for  us  to  have  proceeded,  if  way  had 
not  been  made  for  us  by  a  tali  well- 


1769.]  A  VISIT  TO 

lookfng  man,  who  had  something  like 
a  turban  about  his  head,  and  a  long 
white  stick  in  his  hand,  with  which 
he  laid  about  him  at  an  unmerciful 
rate.  This  man  conducted  us  to  the 
chief,  while  the  people  shouted  round 
us,  "  Taio  Tootahah, " — "  Tootahah  is 
your  friend. "  We  found  him,  like  an 
ancient  patriarch,  sitting  under  a  tree, 
with  a  number  of  venerable  old  men 
standing  round  him.  He  made  a 
sign  to  us  to  sit  down,  and  immedi- 
ately asked  for  his  axe ;  this  I  pre- 
sented to  him,  with  an  upper  garment 
of  broad  cloth,  made  after  the  country 
fashion,  and  trimmed  with  tape,  to 
which  I  also  added  a  shirt.  He  re- 
ceived them  with  great  satisfaction, 
and  immediately  put  on  the  garment ; 
but  the  shirt  he  gave  to  the  person 
who  had  cleared  the  way  for  us  upon 
our  landing,  who  was  now  seated  by 
us,  and  of  whom  he  seemed  desirous 
that  we  should  take  particular  notice. 
In  a  short  time,  Oberea,  and  several 
other  women  whom  we  knew,  came 
and  sat  down  among  us.  Tootahah 
left  us  several  times,  but  after  a  short 
absence  returned  ;  we  thought  it  had 
been  to  show  himself  in  his  new  finery 
to  the  people,  but  we  wronged  him, 
for  it  was  to  give  directions  for  our 
refreshment  and  entertainment.  While 
we  were  waiting  for  his  return  the  last 
time  he  left  us,  very  impatient  to  be 
dismissed,  as  we  were  almost  suffocat- 
ed in  the  crowd,  word  was  brought  us 
that  he  expected  us  elsewhere.  We 
found  him  sitting  under  the  awning 
of  our  own  boat,  and  making  signs 
that  we  should  come  to  him.  As 
many  of  us,  therefore,  went  on  board 
as  the  boat  would  hold,  and  he  then 
ordered  bread-fruit  and  cocoa-nuts  to 
be  brought,  of  both  which  we  tasted, 
rather  to  gratify  him  than  because  we 
had  a  desire  to  eat.  A  message  was 
soon  after  brought  him,  upon  which 
he  went  out  of  the  boat,  and  we  were 
in  a  short  time  desired  to  follow.  We 
were  conducted  to  a  large  area  or  court- 
yard, which  was  railed  round  with 
bamboos  about  three  feet  high,  on  one 
side  of  his  house,  where  an  entertain- 
ment was  provided  for  us,  entirely 
Uew.  This  was  a  wrestling-match. 


TOOTAHAH.  25 

At  the  upper  end  of  the  area  sat  the 
chief,  and  several  of  his  principal  men 
were  ranged  on  each  side  of  him,  so 
as  to  form  a  semicircle ;  these  were 
the  judges,  by  whom  the  victor  was 
to  be  applauded.  Seats  were  also  left 
for  us,  at  each  end  of  the  line  ;  but  we 
chose  rather  to  be  at  liberty  among  the 
rest  of  the  spectators. 

When  all  was  ready,  ten  or  twelve 
persons,  whom  we  understood  to  be 
the  combatants,  and  who  were  naked, 
except  a  cloth  that  was  fastened  about 
the  waist,  entered  the  area,  and  walked 
slowly  round  it,  in  a  stooping  posture, 
with  their  left  hands  on  their  right 
breasts,  and  their  right  hands  open, 
with  which  they  frequently  struck  the 
left  fore-arm  so  as  to  produce  a  quick 
smart  sound.  This  was  a  general  chal- 
lenge to  the  combatants  whom  they 
were  to  engage,  or  any  other  person 
present.  After  these  followed  others, 
in  the  same  manner  ;  and  then  a  par- 
ticular challenge  was  given,  by  wl  ich 
each  man  singled  out  his  antagonist. 
This  was  done  by  joining  the  finger 
ends  of  both  hands,  and  bringing  them 
to  the  breast,  at  the  same  time  mov- 
ing the  elbows  up  and  down  with  a 
quick  motion.  If  the  person  to  whom 
this  was  addressed  accepted  the  chal- 
lenge, he  repeated  the  signs,  and  im- 
mediately each  put  himself  into  an 
attitude  to  engage.  The  next  minute 
they  closed,  but,  except  in  first  seizing 
each  other,  it  was  a  mere  contest  of 
strength ;  each  endeavoured  to  lay 
hold  of  the  other,  first  by  the  thigh, 
and  if  that  failed  by  the  hand,  the 
hair,  the  cloth,  or  elsewhere  as  he 
could.  When  this  was  done  they 
grappled,  without  the  least  dexterity 
or  skill,  till  one  of  them,  by  having 
a  more  advantageous  hold,  or  greater 
muscular  force,  threw  the  other  on  his 
back.  When  the  contest  was  over, 
the  old  men  gave  their  plaudit  to  the 
victor  in  a  few  words,  which  they  re- 
peated together  in  a  kind  of  tune ;  his 
conquest  was  also  generally  celebrated 
by  three  huzzas.  The  entertainment 
was  then  suspended  for  a  few  minutes, 
after  which  another  couple  of  wrestlers 
carne  forward  and  engaged  in  the  same 
manner.  If  it  happened  that  neither 


26 


COOK'S  VOYAGES. 


[TOY.  I. 


was  thrown,  after  the  contest  had 
continued  about  a  minute,  they  parted, 
either  by  consent  or  the  intervention 
of  their  friends  ;  and  in  this  case  each 
slapped  his  arm,  as  a  challenge  to  a 
new  engagement,  either  with  the  same 
antagonist  or  some  other.  While  the 
wrestlers  were  engaged,  another  party 
of  men  performed  a  dance,  which  lasted 
also  about  a  minute  ;  but  neither  of 
these  parties  took  the  least  notice  of 
each  other,  their  attention  being  wholly 
fixed  on  what  they  were  doing.  "We 
observed  with  pleasure,  that  the  con- 
queror never  exulted  over  the  van- 
quished, and  that  the  vanquished 
never  repined  at  the  success  of  the 
conqueror ;  the  whole  contest  was 
carried  on  with  perfect  good-will  and 
good-humour,  though  in  the  presence 
of  at  least  500  spectators,  of  whom 
some  were  women.  The  number  of 
women,  indeed,  was  comparatively 
small  ;  none  but  those  of  rank  were 
present ;  and  we  had  reason  to  believe 
that  they  would  not  have  been  spec- 
tators of  this  exercise  but  in  compli- 
ment to  us. 

This  lasted  about  two  hours ;  during 
all  which  time,  the  man  who  had 
made  a  way  for  us  when  we  landed, 
kept  the  people  at  a  proper  distance, 
by  striking  those  who  pressed  forward 
very  severely  with  his  stick.  Upon 
inquiry  we  learned  that  he  was  an 
officer  belonging  to  Tootahah,  acting 
as  master  of  the  ceremonies.  It  is 
scarcely  possible,  for  those  who  are 
acquainted  with  the  athletic  sports  of 
very  remote  antiquity,  not  to  remark 
a  rude  resemblance  of  them  in  this 
wrestling-match  among  the  natives  of 
a  little  island  in  the  midst  of  the  Pa- 
cific Ocean.  And  female  readers  may 
recollect  the  account  given  of  them  by 
Fenelon  in  his  Telemachus,  where, 
though  the  events  are  fictitious,  the 
manners  of  the  age  are  faithfully  tran- 
scribed from  authors  by  whom  they 
are  supposed  to  have  been  truly  re- 
lated. 

When  the  wrestling  was  over,  we 
were  given  to  understand  that  two 
hogs,  and  a  large  quantity  of  bread- 
fruit, were  preparing  for  our  dinner  ; 
which,  as  our  appetites  were  now  keen, 


was  very  agreeable  intelligence.  Our 
host,  however,  seemed  to  repent  of  his 
liberality ;  for,  instead  of  setting  his 
two  hogs  before  us,  he  ordered  one  of 
them  to  be  carried  into  our  boat :  at 
first  we  were  not  sorry  for  this  new 
disposition  of  matters,  thinking  that 
we  should  dine  more  comfortably  in 
the  boat  than  on  shore,  as  the  crowd 
would  more  easily  be  kept  at  a  dis- 
tance ;  but  when  we  came  on  board, 
he  ordered  us  to  proceed  with  his  hog 
to  the  ship.  This  was  mortifying,  as 
we  were  now  to  row  four  miles  while 
our  dinner  was  growing  cold;  however, 
we  thought  fit  to  comply,  and  were  at 
last  gratified  with  the  cheer  that  he 
had  provided,  of  which  he  and  Tu- 
bourai  Tamaide  had  a  liberal  share. 

Our  reconciliation  with  this  man 
operated  upon  the  people  like  a  charm ; 
for  he  was  no  sooner  known  to  be  on 
board,  than  bread-fruit,  cocoa-nuts, 
and  other  provisions  were  brought  to 
the  fort  in  great  plenty.  Affairs  now 
went  on  in  the  usual  channel  ;  but 
pork  being  still  a  scarce  commodity, 
our  master,  Mr  Mollineux,  and  Mr 
Green,  went  in  the  pinnace  to  the  east- 
ward, on  the  8th,  early  in  the  morn- 
ing, to  see  whether  th<jy  could  procure 
any  hogs  or  poultry  in  that  part  of  the 
country.  They  proceeded  in  that  di- 
rection twenty  miles ;  but  though 
they  saw  many  hogs,  and  one  turtle, 
they  could  not  purchase  either  at  any 
price.  The  people  everywhere  told 
them,  that  they  all  belonged  to  Toot- 
ahah, and  that  they  could  sell  none 
of  them  without  his  permission.  We 
now  began  to  think  that  this  man  was 
indeed  a  great  prince ;  for  an  influence 
so  extensive  and  absolute  could  be 
acquired  by  no  other.  And  we  after- 
wards found  that  he  administered  the 
government  of  this  part  of  the  island, 
as  sovereign,  for  a  minor  whom  we 
never  saw  all  the  time  that  we  were 
upon  it.  When  Mr  Green  returned 
from  this  expedition  he  said  he  had 
seen  a  tree  of  a  size  which  he  was 
afraid  to  relate,  it  being  no  less  than 
sixty  yards  in  circumference  ;  but  Mr 
Banks  and  Dr  Solander  soon  explained 
to  him  that  it  was  a  species  of  the  fig, 
the  branches  of  which,  bending  down, 


1769.1  NAMES  BESTOWED 

take  fresh  root  in  the  earth,  and  thus 
form  a  congeries  of  trunks,  which 
being  very  close  to  each  other,  and  all 
joined  by  a  common  vegetation,  might 
easily  be  mistaken  for  one. 

Though  the  market  at  the  fort  was 
now  tolerably  supplied,  provisions 
were  brought  more  slowly ;  a  sufficient 
quantity  used  to  be  purchased  between 
sun-rise  and  eight  o'clock,  but  it  was 
now  become  necessary  to  attend  the 
greatest  part  of  the  day.  Mr  Banks, 
therefore,  fixed  his  little  boat  up  be- 
fore the  door  of  the  fort,  which"  was 
of  great  use  as  a  place  to  trade  in. 
Hitherto  we  had  purchased  cocoa-nuts 
and  bread-fruit  for  beads  ;  but  the 
market  becoming  rather  slack  in  these 
articles,  we  were  now,  for  the  first 
time,  forced  to  bring  out  our  nails. 
One  of  our  smallest  size,  which  was 
about  four  inches  long,  procured  us 
twenty  cocoa-nuts,  and  bread-fruit  in 
proportion,  so  that  in  a  short  time  our 
first  plenty  was  restored. 

On  the  9th,  soon  after  breakfast,  we 
received  a  visit  from  Oberea,  being  the 
first  that  she  had  made  us  after  the 
loss  of  our  quadrant  and  the  unfor- 
tunate confinement  of  Tootahah ;  with 
her  came  her  present  favourite,  Oba- 
dee,  and  Tupia.  They  brought  us  a 
hog  and  some  bread-fruit,  in  return  for 
which  we  gave  her  a  hatchet.  We  had 
now  afforded  our  Indian  friends  a  new 
and  interesting  object  of  curiosity — 
our  forge,  which,  having  been  set  up 
some  time,  was  almost  constantly  at 
work.  It  was  now  common  for  them 
to  bring  pieces  of  iron,  which  we  sup- 
pose they  must  have  got  from  the  Dol- 
phin, to  be  made  into  tools  of  various 
kinds  ;  and  as  I  was  very  desirous  to 
gratify  them,  they  were  indulged,  ex- 
cept when  the  smith's  time  was  too 
precious  to  be  spared.  Oberea,  hav- 
ing received  her  hatchet,  produced  as 
much  old  iron  as  would  have  made 
another,  with  a  request  that  another 
might  be  made  of  it ;  in  this,  however, 
I  could  not  gratify  her,  upon  which 
she  brought  out  a  broken  axe,  and  de- 
sired it  might  be  mended.  I  was  glad 
of  an  opportunity  to  compromise  the 
difference  between  us  ;  her  axe  was 
mended,  and  she  appeared  to  be  con- 


BY  THE  NATIVES.  27 

tent.  They  went  away  at  night,  and 
took  with  them  the  canoe,  which  had 
been  a  considerable  time  at  the  point, 
but  promised  to  return  in  three  days. 

On  the  10th,  I  put  some  seeds  of 
melons  and  other  plants  into  a  spot 
of  ground  which  had  been  turned  up 
for  the  purpose  ;  they  had  all  been 
sealed  up  by  the  person  of  whom  they 
were  bought,  in  small  bottles,  with 
rosin  ;  but  none  of  them  came  up  ex- 
cept mustard ;  even  the  cucumbers 
and  melons  failed,  and  Mr  Banks  is 
of  opinion  that  they  were  spoiled  by 
the  total  exclusion  of  fresh  air. 

This  day  we  learned  the  Indian 
name  of  the  island,  which  is  Otaheite, 
and  by  that  name  I  shall  hereafter 
distinguish  it.  But  after  great  pains 
taken  we  found  it  utterly  impossible 
to  teach  the  Indians  to  pronounce  our 
names ;  we  had,  therefore,  new  names, 
consisting  of  such  sounds  as  they  pro- 
duced in  the  attempt.  They  called 
me  "Toote;"  Mr  Hicks,  "Hete;" 
Mollineuxthey  renounced  in  absolute 
despair,  and  called  the  master  "  Boba, " 
from  his  Christian  name  Robert ;  Mr 
Gore  was  ' '  Toarro  ; "  Dr  Solander, 
"Torano;"  and  Mr  Banks,  "Tap- 
ane  ;"  Mr  Green,  "Eteree;"  Mr  Par- 
kinson, "Patini;"  MrSporing,  "Pol- 
ini;"  Petersgill,  "Pedrodero;"  and 
in  this  manner  they  had  now  formed 
names  for  almost  every  man  in  the 
ship.  In  some,  however,  it  was  not 
easy  to  find  any  traces  of  the  original, 
and  they  were  perhaps  not  mere  arbi- 
trary sounds,  formed  upon  the  occa- 
sion, but  significant  words  in  their  own 
language.  Monkhouse,  the  midship- 
man who  commanded  the  party  that 
killed  the  man  for  stealing  the  musket, 
they  called  "  Matte  ;"  not  merely  by 
an  attempt  to  imitate  in  sound  the 
first  syllable  of  Monkhouse,  but  be- 
cause "Matte"  signifies  dead;  and 
this  might  probably  be  the  case  with 
others. 

Friday,  the  12th  of  May,  was  dis- 
tinguished by  a  visit  from  some  ladies 
whom  we  had  never  seen  before,  and 
who  introduced  themselves  with  very 
singular  ceremonies.  Mr  Banks  was 
trading  in  his  boat  at  the  gate  of  the 
fort  as  usual,  in  company  with  Too- 


COOK'S  VOYAGES. 


(TOT.  I. 


tahah,  who  had  that  morning  paid 
him  a  visit,  and  some  other  of  the 
natives.  Between  9  and  10  o'clock, 
a  double  canoe  came  to  the  landing- 
place,  under  the  awning  of  which  sat 
a  man  and  two  women.  The  Indians 
that  were  about  Mr  Banks  made  signs 
that  he  should  go  out  to  meet  them, 
which  he  hasted  to  do  ;  but  by  the 
time  he  could  get  out  of  the  boat, 
they  had  advanced  within  ten  yards  of 
him  ;  they  then  stopped,  and  made 
signs  that  he  should  do  so  too,  laying 
down  about  a  dozen  young  plantain 
trees,  and  some  other  small  plants. 
He  complied,  and,  the  people  having 
made  a  lane  between  them,  the  man, 
who  appeared  to  be  a  servant,  brought 
six  of  them  to  Mr  Banks  by  one  of 
each  at  a  time,  passing  and  repassing 
six  times,  and  always  pronouncing  a 
short  sentence  when  he  delivered  them. 
Tupia,  who  stood  by  Mr  Banks,  acted 
as  his  master  of  the  ceremonies,  and, 
receiving  the  branches  as  they  were 
brought,  laid  them  down  in  the  boat. 
When  this  was  done,  another  man 
brought  a  large  bundle  of  cloth,  which 
heaving  opened,  he  spread  piece  by 
piece  upon  the  ground,  in  the  space 
between  Mr  Banks  and  his  visitors. 
There  were  nine  pieces,  and  having 
laid  three  pieces  one  upon  another, 
the  foremost  of  the  women,  who  seemed 
to  be  the  principal,  and  who  was  called 
Oorattooa,  stepped  upon  them,  and 
taking  up  her  garments  all  around 
her  to  the  waist,  turned  about,  with 
great  composure  and  deliberation,  and 
with  an  air  of  perfect  innocence  and 
simplicity,  three  times.  When  this 
was  done,  she  dropped  the  veil,  and 
stepping  off  the  cloth,  three  more 
pieces  were  laid  on,  and  she  repeated 
the  ceremony,  then  stepping  off  as 
before  ;  the  last  three  were  laid  on, 
and  the  ceremony  was  repeated  in  the 
same  manner  the  third  time.  Imme- 
diately after  this  the  cloth  was  rolled 
up,  and  given  to  Mr  Banks  as  a  pre- 
sent from  the  lady,  who,  with  her 
friend,  came  up  and  saluted  him.  He 
made  such  presents  to  them  both  as 
he  thought  would  be  most  acceptable, 
and  after  having  stayed  about  an  hour 
they  went  away.  In  the  evening  the 


gentlemen  at  the  fort  had  a  visit  from 
Oberea,  and  her  favourite  female  at- 
tendant, whose  name  was  Otheothea, 
an  agreeable  girl,  whom  they  were  the 
more  pleased  to  see,  because,  having 
been  some  days  absent,  it  had  been 
reported  she  was"  either  sick  or  dead. 

On  the  13th,  the  market  being  over 
about  10  o'clock,  Mr  Banks  walked 
into  the  woods  with  his  gun,  as  he 
generally  did,  for  the  benefit  of  the 
shade  in  the  heat  of  the  day.  As 
he  was  returning,  he  met  Tubourai 
Tamaide,  near  his  occasional  dwell- 
ing, and  stopping  to  spend  a  little 
time  with  him,  he  suddenly  took  the 
gun  out  of  Mr  Banks's  hand,  cocked 
it,  and  holding  it  up  in  the  air,  drew 
the  trigger ;  fortunately  for  him  it 
flashed  in  the  pan.  Mr  Banks  im- 
mediately took  it  from  him,  not  a 
little  surprised  how  he  had  acquired 
sufficient  knowledge  of  a  gun  to  dis- 
charge it,  and  reproved  him  with 
great  severity  for  what  he  had  done. 
As  it  was  of  infinite  importance  to 
keep  the  Indians  totally  ignorant  of 
the  management  of  fire-arms,  he  had 
taken  eveiy  opportunity  of  intimat- 
ing that  they  could  never  offend  him 
so  highly  as  by  even  touching  his 
piece  ;  it  was  now  proper  to  enforce 
this  prohibition,  and  he  therefore 
added  threats  to  his  reproof.  The 
Indian  bore  all  patiently ;  but  the 
moment  Mr  Banks  crossed  the  river, 
he  set  off  with  all  his  family  and 
furniture  for  his  house  at  Eparre. 
This  being  quickly  known  from  the 
Indians  at  the  fort,  and  great  incon- 
venience being  apprehended  from  the 
displeasure  of  this  man,  who  upon  all 
occasions  had  been  particularly  use- 
ful, Mr  Banks  determined  to  follow 
him  without  delay,  and  solicit  his 
return.  He  set  out  the  same  evening 
accompanied  by  Mr  Mollineux,  and 
found  him  sitting  in  the  middle  of  a 
large  circle  of  people,  to  whom  he 
had  probably  related  what  had  hap- 
pened, and  his  fears  of  the  conse- 
quences. He  was  himself  the  very 
picture  of  grief  and  dejection,  and 
the  same  passions  were  strongly 
marked  in  the  countenances  of  all 
the  people  that  surrounded  him. 


1769.] 


THE  NATIVES  ATTEND  DIVINE  SERVICE. 


29 


When  Mr  Banks  and  Mr  Mollineux 
went  into  the  circle,  one  of  the 
women  expressed  her  trouble  as  Ter- 
apo  had  done  upon  another  occasion, 
and  struck  a  shark's  tooth  into  her 
head  several  times  till  it  was  covered 
with  blood.  Mr  Banks  lost  no  time 
in  putting  an  end  to  this  universal 
distress  ;  he  assured  the  chief  that 
everything  which  had  passed  should 
be  forgotten,  that  there  was  not  the 
least  animosity  remaining  on  one 
side,  nor  anything  to  be  feared  on 
the  other.  The  chief  was  soon 
soothed  into  confidence  and  com- 
placency, a  double  canoe  was  ordered 
to  be  got  ready,  they  all  returned 
together  to  the  fort  before  supper, 
and,  as  a  pledge  of  perfect  reconcilia- 
tion, both  he  and  his  wife  slept  all 
night  in  Mr  Banks's  tent.  Their  pre- 
sence, however,  was  no  palladium  ; 
for,  between  11  and  12  o'clock,  one 
of  the  natives  attempted  to  get  into 
the  fort  by  scaling  the  walls,  with  a 
design,  no  doubt,  to  steal  whatever 
he  should  happen  to  find.  He  was 
discovered  by  the  sentinel,  whohappily 
did  not  fire,  and  he  ran  away  much 
faster  than  any  of  our  people  could 
follow  him.  The  iron  and  iron-tools 
which  were  in  continual  use  at  the 
armourer's  forge  that  was  set  up 
within  the  works,  were  temptations 
to  theft  which  none  of  these  people 
could  withstand. 

On  the  14th,  which  was  Sunday,  I 
directed  that  divine  service  should  be 
performed  at  the  fort.  We  were  de- 
sirous that  some  of  the  principal 
Indians  should  be  present ;  but  when 
the  hour  came,  most  of  them  were 
returned  home.  Mr  Banks,  however, 
crossed  the  river,  and  brought  back 
Tubourai  Tamaide  and  his  wife  Tomio, 
hoping  that  it  would  give  occasion  to 
some  inquiries  on  their  part,  and 
some  instruction  on  ours.  Having 
seated  them,  he  placed  himself  be- 
tween them,  and  during  the  whole 
service  they  very  attentively  observ- 
ed his  behaviour,  and  very  exactly 
imitated  it  ;  standing,  sitting,  or 
kneeling,  as  they  saw  him  do.  They 
were  conscious  that  we  were  employed 
about  somewhat  seiious  and  impor- 


tant, as  appeared  by  their  calling  to 
the  Indians  without  the  fort  to  be 
silent ;  yet  when  the  service  was 
over,  neither  of  them  asked  any 
questions,  nor  would  they  attend  to 
any  attempt  that  was  made  to  ex- 
plain what  had  been  done. 

On  the  14th  and  15th,  we  had 
another  opportunity  of  observing  the 
general  knowledge  which  these  people 
had  of  any  design  that  was  formed 
among  them.  In  the  night  between 
the  13th  and  14th,  one  of  the  water- 
casks  was  stolen  from  the  outside  of 
the  fort.  In  the  morning  there  was 
not  an  Indian  to  be  seen  who  did  not 
know  that  it  was  gone  ;  yet  they  ap- 
peared not  to  have  been  trusted,  or 
not  to  have  been  worthy  of  trust ; 
for  they  seemed  all  of  them  disposed 
to  give  intelligence  where  it  might  be 
found.  Mr  Banks  traced  it  to  a  part 
of  the  bay  where  he  was  told  it  had 
been  put  into  a  canoe  ;  but,  as  it  was 
not  of  great  consequence,  he  did  not 
complete  the  discovery.  When  he 
returned,  he  was  told  by  Tubourai 
Tamaide  that  another  cask  would  be 
stolen  before  the  morning.  How  he 
came  by  this  knowledge  it  is  not  easy 
to  imagine  ;  that  he  was  not  a  party 
in  the  design  is  certain,  for  he  came 
with  his  wife  and  family  to  the  place 
where  the  water- casks  stood,  and 
placing  their  beds  near  them,  he  said 
he  would  himself  be  a  pledge  for  their 
safety,  in  despite  of  the  thief.  Of 
this,  however,  we  would  not  admit, 
and  making  them  understand  that  a 
sentry  would  be  placed  to  watch  the 
casks  till  the  morning,  he  removed 
the  beds  into  Mr  Banks's  tent,  where 
he  and  his  family  spent  the  night, 
making  signs  to  the  sentry  when  he 
retired,  that  he  should  keep  his  eyes 
open.  In  the  night  this  intelligence 
appeared  to  be  true ;  about  12  o'clock 
the  thief  came,  but  discovering  tltjit 
a  watch  had  been  set,  he  went  away 
without  his  booty. 

Mr  Banks's  confidence  in  Tubourai 
Tamaide  had  greatly  increased  since 
the  affair  of  the  knife,  in  consequence 
of  which  he  was  at  length  exposed  to 
temptations  which  neither  his  integ- 
rity nor  his  honour  was  able  to  resist. 


30 


COOK'S  VOYAGES. 


[TOY.  I. 


They  had  withstood  many  allure- 
ments, but  were  at  length  ensnared 
by  the  fascinating  charms  of  a  basket 
of  nails.  These  nails  were  much 
larger  than  any  that  had  yet  been 
brought  into  trade,  and  had,  with 
perhaps  some  degree  of  criminal  neg- 
ligence, been  left  in  a  corner  of  Mr 
Banks's  tent,  to  which  the  chief  had 
always  free  access.  One  of  these 
nails  Mr  Banks's  servant  happened  to 
see  in  his  possession,  upon  his  having 
inadvertently  thrown  back  that  part 
of  his  garment  under  which  it  was 
concealed.  Mr  Banks  being  told  of 
this,  and  knowing  that  no  such  thing 
had  been  given  him  either  as  a  pre- 
sent or  in  barter,  immediately  ex- 
amined the  basket,  and  discovered 
that  out  of  seven  nails  five  were 
missing.  He  then,  though  not  with- 
out great  reluctance,  charged  him 
with  the  fact,  which  he  immediately 
confessed,  and,  however  he  might 
suffer,  was  probably  not  more  hurt 
than  his  accuser.  A  demand .  was 
immediately  made  for  restitution ; 
but  this  he  declined,  saying  that  the 
nails  were  at  Eparre.  However,  Mr 
Banks  appearing  to  be  much  in 
earnest,  and  using  some  threatening 
signs,  he  thought  fit  to  produce  one 
of  them.  He  was  then  taken  to  the 
fort,  to  receive  such  judgment  as 
should  be  given  against  him  by  the 
general  voice.  After  some  delibera- 
tion, that  we  might  not  appear  to 
think  too  lightly  of  his  offence,  he 
was  told,  that  if  he  would  bring  the 
other  four  nails  to  the  fort,  it  should 
be  forgotten.  To  this  condition  he 
agreed  ;  but  I  am  sorry  to  say  he  did 
not  fulfil  it.  Instead  of  fetching  the 
nails,  he  removed  with  his  family 
before  night,  and  took  all  his  furni- 
ture with  him. 

As  our  long-boat  had  appeared  to 
be  leaky,  I  thought  it  necessary  to 
examine  her  bottom,  and  to  my  great 
surprise,  found  it  so  much  eaten  by 
the  worms,  that  it  was  necessary  to 
give  her  a  new  one.  No  such  acci- 
dent had  happened  to  the  Dolphin's 
boats,  as  I  was  informed  by  the 
officers  on  board,  and  therefore  it 
was  a  misfortune  that  I  did  not 


expect.  I  feared  that  the  pinnace 
also  might  be  nearly  in  the  same  con- 
dition, but,  upon  examining  her,  I 
had  the  satisfaction  to  find  that  not 
a  worm  had  touched  her,  though  she 
was  built  of  the  same  wood,  and  had 
been  as  much  in  the  water.  The 
reason  of  this  difference  I  imagine  to 
be  that  the  long-boat  was  payed  with 
varnish  of  pine,  and  the  pinnace 
painted  with  white  lead  and  oil  ;  the 
bottoms  of  all  boats,  therefore,  which 
are  sent  into  this  country  should  be 
painted  like  that  of  the  pinnace,  and 
the  ships  should  be  supplied  with  a 
good  stock,  in  order  to  give  them  a 
new  coating  when  it  should  be  found 
necessary. 

Having  received  repeated  messages 
from  Tootahah,  that  if  we  would  pay 
him  a  visit  he  would  acknowledge  the 
favour  by  a  present  of  four  hogs,  I 
sent  Mr  Hicks,  my  first  lieutenant, 
to  try  if  he  could  not  procure  the 
hogs  upon  easier  terms,  with  orders 
to  show  him  every  civility  in  his 
power.  Mr  Hicks  found  that  he  was 
removed  from  Eparre  to  a  place  called 
Tettahah,  five  miles  farther  to  the 
westward.  He  was  received  with 
great  cordiality;  one  hog  was  im- 
mediately produced,  and  he  was  told 
that  the  other  three,  which  were  at 
some  distance,  should  be  brought  in 
the  morning.  Mr  Hicks  readily  con- 
sented to  stay ;  but  the  morning  came 
without  the  hogs  ;  and  it  not  being 
convenient  to  stay  longer,  he  returned 
in  the  evening  with  the  one  he  had 
got. 

On  the  25th,  Tubourai  Tarn  aide 
and  his  wife  Tomio  made  their  ap- 
pearance at  the  tent,  for  the  first 
time  since  he  had  been  detected  in 
stealing  the  nails.  He  seemed  to  be 
under  some  discontent  and  apprehen- 
sion, yet  he  did  not  think  fit  to  pur- 
chase our  countenance  and  good-will 
by  restoring  the  four  which  he  had 
sent  away.  As  Mr  Banks  and  the 
other  gentlemen  treated  him  with  a 
coolness  and  reserve  which  did  not  at 
all  tend  to  restore  his  peace  or  good, 
humour,  his  stay  was  short,  and  his 
departure  abrupt.  Mr  Monkhouse, 
the  surgeon,  went  the  next  morning 


1769.]  MR  BANKS  HAS  HIS 

in  order  to  effect  a  reconciliation,  by 
persuading  him  to  bring  down  the 
nails  ;  but  he  could  not  succeed. 

On  the  27th,  it  was  determined  that 
we  should  pay  our  visit  to  Tootahah, 
though  we  were  not  very  confident 
that  we  should  receive  the  hogs  for 
our  pains.  I  therefore  set  out  early 
in  the  morning,  with  Mr  Banks  and 
Dr  Solander,  and  three  others,  in  the 
pinnace.  He  was  now  removed  from 
Tettahah,  where  Mr  Hicks  had  seen 
him,  to  a  place  called  Atahourou, 
about  six  miles  farther  ;  and  as  we 
could  not  go  above  half-way  thither 
in  the  boat,  it  was  almost  evening 
before  we  arrived.  We  found  him  in 
his  usual  state,  sitting  under  a  tree, 
with  a  great  crowd  about  him.  We 
made  our  presents  in  due  form,  con- 
sisting of  a  yellow  stuff  petticoat  and 
some  other  trifling  articles,  which 
were  graciously  received  ;  a  hog  was 
immediately  ordered  to  be  killed  and 
dressed  for  supper,  with  a  promise  of 
more  in  the  morning.  However,  as 
we  were  less  desirous  of  feasting  upon 
our  journey  than  of  carrying  back 
with  us  provisions,  which  would  be 
more  welcome  at  the  fort,  we  procured 
a  reprieve  for  the  hog,  and  supped 
upon  the  fruits  of  the  country.  As 
night  now  came  on,  and  the  place  was 
crowded  witU  many  more  than  the 
houses  and  canoes  would  contain, 
there  being  Oberea,  with  her  attend- 
ants, and  many  other  travellers  whom 
we  knew,  we  began  to  look  out  for 
lodgings.  Our  party  consisted  of  six. 
Mr  Banks  thought  himself  fortunate 
in  being  offered  a  place  by  Oberea  in 
her  canoe,  and  wishing  his  friends  a 
good-night,  took  his  leave.  He  went 
to  rest  early,  according  to  the  custom 
of  the  country,  and  taking  off  his 
clothes,  as  was  his  constant  practice, 
the  nights  being  hot,  Oberea  kindly 
insisted  upon  taking  them  into  her 
.own  custody,  for  otherwise,  she  said, 
they  would  certainly  be  stolen.  Mr 
Banks,  having  such  a  safe  guard, 
resigned  himself  to  sleep  with  all 
imaginable  tranquillity  ;  but  waking 
about  11  o'clock,  and  wanting  to  get 
up,  he  searched  for  his  clothes  where 
ho  had  seen  them  deposited  by  Oberea 


CLOTHES  StOLEtf. 


31 


when  he  lay  down  to  sleep,  and  soon 
perceived  that  they  were  amissing. 
He  immediately  awakened  Oberea, 
who,  starting  up  and  hearing  his 
complaint,  ordered  lights,  and  pre- 
pared in  great  haste  to  recover  what 
he  had  lost.  Tootahah  himself  slept 
in  the  next  canoe,  and  being  soon 
alarmed,  he  came  ^to  them,  and  set 
out  with  Oberea  in  search  of  the  thief. 
Mr  Banks  was  not  in  a  condition  to 
go  with  them,  for  of  his  apparel  scarce 
any  thing  was  left  him  but  his  breeches. 
His  coat  and  his  waistcoat,  with  his 
pistols,  powder-horn,  and  many  other 
things  that  were  in  the  pockets,  were 
gone.  In  about  half-an-hour  his  two 
noble  friends  returned,  but  without 
having  obtained  any  intelligence  of 
his  clothes  or  of  the  thief.  At  first 
he  began  to  be  alarmed  ;  his  musket 
had  not  indeed  been  taken  away,  but 
he  had  neglected  to  load  it.  Where 
I  and  Dr  Solander  had  disposed  of 
ourselves  he  did  not  know ;  and  there- 
fore, whatever  might  happen,  he  could 
not  have  recourse  to  us  for  assistance. 
He  thought  it  best,  however,  to  ex- 
press neither  fear  nor  suspicion  of 
those  about  him ;  and  giving  his 
musket  to  Tupia,  who  had  been 
waked  in  the  confusion  and  stood  by 
him,  with  a  charge  not  to  suffer  it  to 
be  stolen,  he  betook  himself  again  to 
rest,  declaring  himself  perfectly  satis- 
fied with  the  pains  that  Tootahah  and 
Oberea  had  taken  to  recover  his  things, 
though  they  had  not  been  successful. 
As  it  cannot  be  supposed  that  in  such 
a  situation  his  sleep  was  very  sound, 
he  soon  after  heard  music,  and  saw 
lights  at  a  little  distance  on  shore. 
This  was  a  concert  or  assembly,  which 
they  call  a  Heiva,  a  common  name 
for  every  public  exhibition ;  and  as  it 
would  necessarily  bring  many  people 
together,  and  there  was  a  chance  of 
my  being  among  them  with  his  other 
friends,  he  rose  and  made  the  best  of 
his  way  towards  it.  He  was  soon  led 
by  the  lights  and  the  sound  to  the 
hut  where  I  lay,  with  three  other 
gentlemen  of  our  party  ;  and  easily 
distinguishing  us  from  the  rest,  he 
made  up  to  us  more  than  half  naked, 
and  told  us  his  melancholy  story.  We 


32 


COOK'S  VOYAGES. 


(ToY.I. 


gave  him  such  comfort  as  the  unfor- 
tunate generally  give  to  each  other, 
by  telling  him  that  we  were  fellow- 
sufferers.  I  showed  him  that  I  was 
myself  without  stockings,  they  having 
been  stolen  from  under  my  head, 
though  I  was  sure  I  had  never  been 
asleep ;  and  each  of  my  associates 
convinced  him  by  his  appearance  that 
he  had  lost  a  jacket.  We  determined 
nevertheless  to  hear  out  the  concert, 
however  deficient  we  might  appear  in 
our  dress.  It  consisted  of  three 
drums,  four  flutes,  and  several  voices. 
When  this  entertainment,  which  lasted 
about  an  hour,  was  over,  we  retired 
again  to  our  sleeping  places,  having 
agreed  that  nothing  could  be  done 
toward  the  recovery  of  our  things  till 
the  morning. 

We  rose  at  daybreak,  according  to 
the  custom  of  the  country.  The  first 
man  that  Mr  Banks  saw  was  Tupia, 
faithfully  attending  with  his  musket; 
and  soon  after,  Oberea  brought  him 
some  of  her  country  clothes  as  a  suc- 
cedaneum  for  his  own  ;  so  that  when 
he  came  to  us  he  made  a  most  motley 
appearance,  half  Indian  and  half  Eng- 
lish. Our  party  soon  got  together, 
except  Dr  Solander,  whose  quarters 
we  did  not  know,  and  who  had  not 
assisted  at  the  concert.  In  a  short 
time  Tootahah  made  his  appearance, 
and  we  pressed  him  to  recover  our 
clothes  ;  but  neither  he  nor  Oberea 
could  be  persuaded  to  take  any  mea- 
sure for  that  purpose,  so  that  we  began 
to  suspect  that  they  had  been  parties 
in  the  theft.  About  8  o'clock  we  were 
joined  by  Dr  Solander,  who  had  fallen 
into  honester  hands,  at  a  house  about 
a  mile  distant,  and  had  lost  nothing. 
Having  given  up  all  hope  of  recover- 
ing our  clothes,  which  indeed  were 
never  afterwards  heard  of,  we  spent 
all  the  morning  in  soliciting  the  hogs 
which  we  .had  been  promised ;  but  in 
this  we  had  no  better  success.  We 
therefore,  in  no  very  good  Ifumour, 
set  out  for  the  boat  about  12  o'clock, 
with  only  that  which  we  had  redeemed 
from  the  butcher  and  the  cook  tne 
night  before. 

As  we  were  returning  to  the  boat, 
however,  we  were  entertained  with  a 


sight  that  in  some  measure  compen- 
sated for  our  fatigue  and  disappoint- 
ment. In  our  way  we  came  to  one  of 
the  few  places  where  access  to  the 
island  is  not  guarded  by  a  reef,  and 
consequently  a  high  surf  breaks  upon 
the  shore.  A  more  dreadful  one  in- 
deed I  had  seldom  seen.  It  was  im- 
possible for  any  European  boat  to 
have  lived  in  it ;  and  if  the  best 
swimmer  in  Europe  had  by  any  acci- 
dent been  exposed  to  its  fury,  I  am 
confident  that  he  would  not  have  been 
able  to  preserve  himself  from  drown- 
ing, especially  as  the  shore  was  covered 
with  pebbles  and  large  stones.  Yet 
in  the  midst  of  these  breakers  were 
ten  or  twelve  Indians  swimming  for 
their  amusement.  Whenever  a  surf 
broke  near  them  they  dived  under  it, 
and,  to  all  appearance  with  infinite 
facility,  rose 'again  on  the  other  side. 
This  diversion  was  greatly  improved 
by  the  stern  of  an  old  canoe,  which 
they  happened  to  find  upon  the  spot. 
They  took  this  before  them,  and  swam 
out  with  it  as  far  as  the  outermost 
breach  ;  then  two  or  three  of  them, 
getting  into  it,  and  turning  the  square 
end  to  the  breaking  wave,  were  driven 
in  towards  the  shore  with  incredible 
rapidity,  sometimes  almost  to  the 
beach  ;  but  generally  the  wave  broke 
over  them  before  they  got  half  way, 
in  which  case  they  dived,  and  rose  on 
the  other  side  with  the  canoe  in  their 
hands.  They  then  swam  out  with  it 
again,  and  were  again  driven  back, 
just  as  our  holiday  youth  climb  the 
hill  in  Greenwich  Park  for  the  plea- 
sure of  rolling  down  it.  At  this  won- 
derful scene  we  stood  gazing  for  more 
than  half-an-hour,  during  which  time 
none  of  the  swimmers  attempted  to 
come  on  shore,  but  seemed  to  enjoy 
their  sport  in  the  highest  degree. 
We  then  proceeded  on  our  journey, 
and  late  in  the  evening  got  back  to 
the  fort. 

Among  other  Indians  that  had 
visited  us,  there  were  some  from  a 
neighbouring  island  which  they  called 
Eimeo  or  Imao,  the -same  to  which 
Captain  Wallis  had  given  the  name 
of  the  Duke  of  York's  Island;  and 
they  gave  us  an  account  of  no  less 


1769.]    PREPARATIONS  TO  OBSERVE  TRANSIT  OF  VENUS.         S3 


than  two-and-twenty  islands  that  lay 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Otaheite. 

As  the  day  of  observation  now  ap- 
proached, I  determined,  in  conse- 
quence of  some  hints  which  had  been 
given  me  by  Lord  Morton,  to  send 
out  two  parties  to  observe  the  transit 
from  other  situations,  hoping  that  if 
we  should  fail  at  Otaheite,  they  might 
have  better  success.  We  were,  there- 
fore, now  busily  employed  in  prepar- 
ing our  instruments,  and  instructing 
such  gentlemen  in  the  use  of  them  as 
I  intended  to  serd  out.  On  Thurs- 
day the  1st  of  June,  the  Saturday 
following  being  the  day  of  the  transit, 
I  despatched  Mr  Gore  in  the  long- 
boat to  Imao,  with  Mr  Monkhouse 
and  Mr  Sporing,  a  gentleman  belong- 
ing to  Mr  Banks,  Mr  Green  having 
furnished  them  with  proper  instru- 
ments. Mr  Banks  himself  thought 
fit  to  go  upon  this  expedition ;  and 
several  natives,  particularly  Tubourai 
Tamaide  and  Tomio,  were  also  of  the 
party.  Very  early  on  the  Friday 
morning,  I  sent  Mr  Hicks,  with  Mr 
Clerk  and  Mr  Petersgill,  the  master's 
mates,  and  Mr  Saunders,  one  of  the 
midshipmen,  in  the  pinnace  to  the 
eastward,  with  orders  to  fix  on  some 
convenient  spot  at  a  distance  from 
our  principal  observatory,  where  they 
also  might  employ  the  instruments 
with  which  they  had  been  furnished 
for  the  same  purpose. 

The  long-boat  not  having  been  got 
ready  till  Thursday  in  the  afternoon, 
though  all  possible  expedition  was 
used  to  fit  her  out,  the  people  on 
board,  after  having  rowed  most  part 
of  the  night,  brought  her  to  a  grap- 
pling just  under  the  land  of  Imao. 
Soon  after  daybreak  they  saw  an 
Indian  canoe,  which  they  hailed,  and 
the  people  on  board  showed  them  an 
inlet  through  the  reef,  into  which 
they  pulled,  and  soon  fixed  upon  a 
coral  rock,  which  rose  out  of  the 
water  about  150  yards  from  the  shore, 
as  a  proper  situation  for  their  obser- 
vatory. It  was  about  eighty  yards 
long  and  twenty  broad,  and  in  the 
middle  of  it  was  a  bed  of  white  sand, 
large  enough  for  the  tents  to  stand 
upon.  Mr  Gore  and  his  assistants 


immediately  began  to  set  them  up, 
and  make  other  necessary  prepara- 
tions for  the  important  business  of 
the  next  day.  While  this  was  doing, 
Mr  Banks,  .with  the  Indians  of  Ota- 
heite, and  the  people  whom  they  had 
met  in  the  canoe,  went  ashore  upon 
the  main  island  to  buy  provisions; 
of  which  lie  procured  a  sufficient 
supply  before  night.  When  ho  re- 
turned to  the  rock  he  found  the  ob- 
servatory in  order,  and  the  telescopes 
all  fixed  and  tried.  The  evening  was 
very  fine,  yet  their  solicitude  did  not 
permit  them  to  take  much  rest  in  the 
night ;  one  or  other  of  them  was  up 
every  half -hour,  who  satisfied  the 
impatience  of  the  rest  by  reporting 
the  changes  of  the  sky — now  encour- 
aging their  hope  by  telling  them  that 
it  was  clear,  and  now  alarming  their 
fears  by  an  account  that  it  was  hazy. 
At  daybreak  they  got  up,  and  had 
the  satisfaction  to  see  the  sun  rise 
without  a  cloud.  Mr  Banks  the  a 
wishing  the  observers,  Mr  Gore  and 
Mr  Monkhouse,  success,  repaired  again 
to  the  island,  that  he  might  examine 
its  produce  and  get  a  fresh  supply  of 
provisions.  He  began  by  trading 
with  the  natives,  for  which  purpose 
he  took  his  station  under  a  tree ;  and 
to  keep  them  from  pressing  upon  him 
in  a  crowd,  he  drew  a  circle  round 
him,  which  he  suffered  none  of  them 
to  enter.  About  8  o'clock  he  saw 
two  canoes  coming  towards  the  place, 
and  was  given  to  understand  by  the 
people  about  him  that  they  belonged 
to  Tarrao,  the  king  of  the  island, 
who  was  coming  to  make  him  a  visit. 
As  soon  as  the  canoes  came  near  the 
shore,  the  people  made  a  lane  fiom 
the  beach  to  the  trading-place,  nnd 
his  majesty  landed  with  his  sisler, 
whose  name  was  Nuna.  As  they  ad- 
vanced towards  the  tree  where  Mr 
Banks  stood,  he  went  out  to  meet 
them,  and,  with  great  formality,  in- 
troduced them  into  the  circle  from 
which  the  other  natives  had  been 
excluded.  As  it  is  the  custom  of 
these  people  to  sit  during  all  their 
conferences,  Mr  Banks  unwrapped  a 
kind  of  turban  of  Indian  cloth,  which-' 
h«  wore  upon  his  head  instead  of  a 


34 


COOK'S  VOYAGES. 


[VOY.  I. 


hat,  and  spreading  it  upon  the  ground, 
they  all  sat  down  upon  it  together. 
The  royal  present  was  then  brought, 
which  consisted  of  a  hog  and  a  dog, 
some  bread-fruit,  cocoa-nuts,  and 
other  articles  of  the  like  kind.  Mr 
Banks  then  despatched  a  canoe  to  the 
observatory  for  his  present,  and  the 
messengers  soon  returned  with  an 
adze,  a  shirt,  and  some  beads,  which 
were  presented  to  his  majesty,  and 
received  with  great  satisfaction.  By 
this  time  Tubourai  Tamaide  and 
Tomio  joined  them  from  the  obser- 
vatory. Tomio  said  that  she  was  re- 
lated to  Tarrao,  and  brought  him  a 
present  of  a  long  nail,  at  the  same 
time  com  plimentingNuna  with  a  shirt. 

The  first  internal  contact  of  the 
planet  with  the  sun  being  over,  Mr 
Banks  returned  to  the  observatory, 
taking  Tarrao,  Nuna,  and  some  of 
their  principal  attendants,  among 
whom  were  three  very  handsome 
young  women,  with  him.  He  showed 
them  the  planet  upon  the  sun,  and 
endeavoured  to  make  them  under- 
stand that  he  and  his  companions 
had  come  from  their  own  country  on 
purpose  to  see  it.  Soon  after  Mr 
Banks  returned  with  them  to  the 
island,  where  he  spent  the  rest  of  the 
day  in  examining  its  produce,  which 
he  found  to  be  much  the  same  with 
that  of  Otaheite.  The  people  whom 
he  saw  there  also  exactly  resembled 
the  inhabitants  qf  :that  island,  and 
•many  of  them  were  persons  whom  he 
had  seen  upon  it;  so  that  all  those 
whom  he  had  dealt  with  knew  of 
what  his  trading  articles  consisted, 
and  the  value  they  bore.  The  next 
morning,  having  struck  the  tents, 
they  set  out  on  their  return,  and 
arrived  at  the  fort  before  night 

The  observation  was  made  with 
equal  success  by  the  persons  whom  I 
had  sent  to  the  eastward,  and  at  the 
fort.  There  not  being  a  cloud  in  the 
sky  from  the  rising  to  the  setting  of 
the  sun,  the  whole  passage  of  the 
planet  Venus  over  the  sun's  disc  was 
observed  with  great  advantage  by  Mr 
Creen,  Dr  Solander,  and  myself.  Mr 
Green's  telescope  and  mine  were  of 
the  same  magnifying  power,  but  that 


of  Dr  Solander's  was  greater.  "We  all 
saw  an  atmosphere  or  dusky  cloud 
round  the  body  of  the  planet,  which 
very  much  disturbed  the  times  of 
contact,  especially  of  the  internal 
ones ;  and  we  differed  from  each  other 
in  our  accounts  of  the  times  of  the 
contacts  much  more  than  might  have 
been  expected.  According  to  Mr 
Green, 

Ho.  Min.  Sec. 

The  first  external  con- 
tact, or  first  appear- 
ance of  Venus  on  the 
Sun,  was       .         .     9    25    42 
The  first  internal  con- 
tact,  or  total  emer- 
sion, was       .         .     9   44     4 
The  second  internal  con- 
tact, or  beginning  of 
the  emersion,    .     .     314     8 
The  second  external  con- 
tact,   or  total  emer- 
sion,    .         .'        .     3   32   10 
The  latitude  of  the  observatory  was 
found   to  be   17°   29'   15",   and    the 
longitude  149°  32'  30"  W.  of  Green- 
wich. 

But  if  we  had  reason  to  congratu- 
late ourselves  upon  the  success  of  our 
observation,  we  had  scarce  less  cause 
to  regret  the  diligence  with  which 
that  time  had  been  improved  by  some 
of  our  people  to  another  purpose. 
While  the  attention  of  the  officers 
was  engrossed  by  the  transit  of  Venus, 
some  of  the  ship's  company  broke 
into  one  of  the  store-rooms  and  stole 
a  quantity  of  spike  nails,  amounting 
to  no  less  than  one  hundredweight. 
This  was  a  matter  of  public  and  seri- 
ous concern;  for  these  nails,  if  cir- 
culated by  the  people  among  the 
Indians,  would  do  us  irreparable  in- 
jury, by  reducing  the  value  of  iron, 
our  staple  commodity.  One  of  the 
thieves  was  detected,  but  only  seven 
nails  were  found  in  his  custody.  He 
was  punished  with  two  dozen  lashes, 
but  would  impeach  none  of  his  ac- 
complices. 

On  the  5th  we  kept  his  Majesty's 
birthday;  for,  though  it  is  the  4th, 
we  were  unwilling  to  celebrate  it 
during  the  absence  of  the  two  parties 
who  had  been  sent  out  to  observe  the 


1769.] 


TREATMENT  OF  THE  DEAD. 


transit.  "We  had  several  of  the  Indian 
chiefs  at  our  entertainment,  who  drank 
his  Majesty's  health  by  the  name  of 
' '  Kihiargo, "  which  was  the  nearest 
imitation  they  could  produce  of  King 
George. 

About  this  time  died  an  old  woman 
of  some  rank,  who  was  related  to 
Tomio,  which  gave  us  an  opportunity 
to  see  how  they  disposed  of  the  body, 
and  confirmed  us  in  our  opinion  that 
these  people,  contrary  to  the  present 
custom  of  all  other  nations  now 
known,  never  bury  their  dead.  In 
the  middle  of  a  small  square,  neatly 
railed  in  with  bamboo,  the  awning  of 
a  canoe  was  raised  upon  two  posts, 
and  under  this  the  body  was  deposited 
upon  such  a  frame  as  has  before  been 
described.  It  was  covered  with  fine 
cloth,  and  near  it  was  placed  bread- 
fruit, fish,  and  other  provisions.  We 
supposed  that  the  food  was  placed 
there. for  the  spirit  of  the  deceased, 
and  consequently  that  these  Indians 
had  some  confused  notion  of  a  separate 
state ;  but  upon  our  applying  for  fur- 
ther information  to  Tubourai  Tarn  aide, 
he  told  us  that  the  food  was  placed 
there  as  an  offering  to  their  gods. 
They  do  not,  however,  suppose  that 
the  gods  eat,  any  more  than  the  Jews 
supposed  that  Jehovah  could  dwell  in 
a  house.  The  offering  is  made  .here 
upon  the  same  principle  as  the  temple 
was  built  at  Jerusalem — as  an  expres- 
sion of  reverence  and  gratitude,  and 
a  solicitation  of  the  more  immediate 
presence  of  the  Deity.  In  the  front 
of  the  area  was  a  kind  of  stile,  where 
the  relations  of  the  deceased  stood  to 
pay  the  tribute  of  their  sorrow ;  and 
under  the  awning  were  innumerable 
small  pieces  of  cloth,  on  which  the 
tears  and  blood  of  the  mourners  had 
been  shed ;  for  in  their  paroxysms  of 
grief  it  is  a  universal  custom  to  wound 
themselves  with  the  shark's  tooth. 
Within  a  few  yards  two  occasional 
houses  were  set  up,  in  one  of  which 
some  relations  of  the  deceased  con- 
stantly resided,  and  in  the  other  the 
chief  mourner— who  is  always  a  man, 
and  who  keeps  there  a  very  singular 
dress,  in  which  a  ceremony  is  per- 
formed that  will  be  described  in  its 


turn.  Near  the  place  where  the  dead 
are  thus  set  up  to  rot,  the  bones  are 
afterwards  buried. 

Having  observed  that  bread-fruit 
had  for  some  days  been  brought  in 
less  quantities  than  usual,  we  inquired 
the  reason,  and  were  told,  that  there 
being  a  great  show  of  fruit  upon  the 
trees,  they  had  been  thinned  all  at 
once,  in  order  to  make  a  kind  of  sour 
paste,  which  the  natives  call  "mahie," 
and  which,  in  consequence  of  having 
undergone  a  fermentation,  will  keep 
a  considerable  time,  and  supply  them 
with  food  when  no  ripe  fruit  is  to  be 
had. 

On  the  10th,  the  ceremony  was  to- 
be  performed  in  honour  of  the  old 
woman  whose  sepulchral  tabernacle 
has  been  described,  by  the  chief 
mourner  ;  and  Mr  Banks  had  so  great 
a  curiosity  to  see  all  the  mysteries  of 
the  solemnity,  that  he  determined  to 
take  a  part  in  it,  being  told  that  he 
could  be  present  upon  no  other  con- 
dition. In  the  evening,  therefore,  he 
repaired  to  the  place  where  the  body 
lay,  and  was  received  by  the  daugh- 
ter of  the  deceased,  and  several  other 
persons,  among  whom  was  a  boy 
about  fourteen  years  old,  who  were 
to  assist  in  the  ceremony.  Tubourai 
Tamaide  was  to  be  the  principal 
mourner  ;  and  his  dress  was  extremely 
fantastical,  though  not  unbecoming. 
Mr  Banks  was  stripped  of  his  Euro- 
pean clothes,  and,  a  small  piece  of 
cloth  being  tied  round  his  middle,  his 
body  was  smeared  with  charcoal  and 
water,  as  low  as  the  shoulders,  till  it 
was  as  black  as  that  of  a  Negro.  The 
same  operation  was  performed  upon 
several  others,  among  whom  were 
some  women,  who  were  reduced  to 
a  state  as  near  to  nakedness  as  him- 
self; the  boy  was  blacked  all  over, 
and  then  the  procession  set  forward. 
Tubourai  Tamaide  uttered  something, 
which  was  supposed  to  be  a  prayer, 
near  the  body,  and  did  the  same  when 
he  came  up  to  his  own  house.  When 
this  was  done,  the  procession  was  con- 
tinued towards  the  fort,  permission 
having  been  obtained  to  approach  it 
upon  this  occasion.  It  is  the  custom 
of  the  Indians  to  fly  from  these  pro- 


3t> 


COOK'S  VOYAGES. 


[Vov.L 


cessions  with  the  utmost  precipitation, 
so  that  as  soon  as  those  who  were 
about  the  fort  saw  it  at  a  distance, 
they  hid  themselves  in  the  woods. 
It  proceeded  from  the  fort  along 
the  shore,  and  put  to  flight  another 
"body  of  Indians,  consisting  of  more 
than  100,  every  one  hiding  himself 
under  the  first  shelter  that  he  could 
find.  It  then  crossed  the  river,  and 
entered  the  woods,  passing  several 
houses,  all  which  were  deserted,  and 
not  a  single  Indian  could  he  seen 
during  the  rest  of  the  procession, 
which  continued  more  than  half-an- 
hour.  The  office  that  Mr  Banks  per- 
formed was  called  that  of  the  Nineveh, 
of  which  there  were  two  besides  him- 
self ;  and  the  natives  having  all  dis- 
appeared, they  came  to  the  chief 
mourner,  and  said,  "  Imitata " — 
"There  are  no  people,"  after  which 
the  company  was  dismissed  to  wash 
themselves  in  the  river,  and  put  on 
their  customary  apparel. 

On  the  12th,  complaint  being  made 
to  me  by  some  of  the  natives  that  two 
of  the  seamen  had  taken  from  them 
several  bows  and  arrows,  and  some 
strings  of  plaited  hair,  I  examined 
the  matter,  and  finding  the  charge 
well  supported,  I  punished  each  of 
the  criminals  with  two  dozen  lashes. 
Their  bows  and  arrows  have  not  been 
mentioned  before,  nor  were  they  often 
brought  down  to  the  fort.  This  day, 
however,  Tubourai  Tamaide  brought 
down  his,  in  consequence  of  achallenge 
which  he  had  received  from  Mr  Gore. 
The  chief  supposed  it  was  to  try  who 
could  send  the  arrow  farthest;  Mr 
Gore,  who  best  could  hit  a  mark ;  and 
as  Mr  Gore  did  not  value  himself  upon 
shooting  to  a  great  distance,  nor  the 
chief  upon  hitting  a  mark,  there  was 
no  trial  of  skill  between  them.  Tu- 
bonrai  Tamaide,  however,  to  show  us 
what  he  could  do,  drew  his  bow, 
and  sent  an  arrow,  none  of  which 
are  feathered,  274  yards,  which  is 
something  more  than  a  seventh,  and 
something  less  than  a  sixth  part  of  a 
mile.  Their  manner  of  shooting  is 
somewhat  singular  ;  they  kneel  down, 
and,  the  moment  the  arrow  is  dis- 
charged, drop  the  bow. 


Mr  Banks,  in  his  morning  walk 
this  day,  met  a  number  of  the  natives, 
whom,  upon  inquiry,  he  found  to  be 
travelling  musicians ;  and  having 
Learned  where  they  were  to  be  at 
night,  we  all  repaired  to  the  place. 
The  band  consisted  of  two  flutes  and 
three  drums,  and  we  found  a  great 
number  of  people  assembled  upon  the 
occasion.  The  drummers  accom- 
panied the  music  with  their  voices, 
and,  to  our  great  surprise,  we  dis- 
covered that  we  were  generally  the 
subject  of  the  song.  We  did  not  ex- 
pect to  have  found  among  the  un- 
civilised inhabitants  of  this  seques- 
tered spot,  a  character  which  has 
been  the  subject  of  such  praise  and 
veneration  where  genius  and  know- 
ledge have  been  most  conspicuous  ; 
yet  these  were  the  bards  or  minstrels 
of  Otaheite.  Their  song  was  unpre.- 
meditated,  and  accompanied  with 
music ;  they  were  continually  going 
about  from  place  to  place,  and  they 
were  rewarded  by  the  master  of  the 
house,  and  the  audience,  with  such 
things  as  one  wanted  and  the  other 
could  spare. 

On  the  14th,  we  were  brought  into 
new  difficulties  and  inconvenience  by 
another  robbery  at  the  fort.  In  the 
middle  of  the  night,  one  of  the  na- 
tives contrived  to  steal  an  iron  coal- 
rake  that  was  made  use  of  for  the 
oven.  It  happened  to  be  set  up 
against  the  inside  of  the  wall,  so  that 
the  top  of  the  handle  was  visible  from 
without  ;  and  we  were  informed  that 
the  thief,  who  had  been  seen  lurking 
there  in  the  evening,  came  secretly 
about  three  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
and,  watching  his  opportunity  when 
the  sentinel's  back  was  turned,  very 
dexterously  laid  hold  of  it  with  a 
long  crooked  stick,  and  drew  it  over 
the  wall.  I  thought  it  of  some  conse- 
quence, if  possible,  to  put  an  end  to 
these  practices  at  once,  by  doing 
something  that  should  make  it  the 
common  interest  of  the  natives  them- 
selves to  prevent  them.  I  had  given 
strict  orders  that  they  should  not  be 
fired  upon,  even  when  detected  in 
these  attempts,  for  which  I  had  many 
reasons.  The  common  sentinels  were 


1769.] 


SEIZURE  OF  FISHING  CANOES. 


37 


by  no  means  fit  to  be  entrusted  with 
a  power  of  life  and  death,  to  be  ex- 
erted whenever  they  should  think  fit, 
and  I  had  already  experienced  that 
they  were  ready  to  take  away  the 
lives  that  were  in  their  power  upon 
the  slightest  occasion  ;  neither,  in- 
deed, did  I  think  that  the  thefts  which 
these  people  committed  against  us, 
were,  in  them,  crimes  worthy  of 
death.  That  thieves  are  hanged  in 
England,  I  thought  no  reason  why  they 
should  be  shot  in  Otaheite,  because, 
with  respect  to  the  natives,  it  would 
have  been  an  execution  by  a  law  ex 
post  facto.  They  had  no  such  law 
among  themselves,  and  it  did  not  ap- 
pear to  me  that  we  had  any  right  to 
make  such  a.  law  for  them.  That  they 
should  abstain  from  theft,  or  be  pun- 
ished with  death,  was  not  one  of  the 
conditions  under  which  they  claimed 
advantages  of  civil  society,  as  it  is 
among  us  ;  and  I  was  not  willing  to 
expose  them  to  fire-arms  loaded  with 
shot,  neither  could  I  perfectly  approve 
of  firing  only  with  powder.  At  iirst, 
indeed,  the  noise  and  the  smoke 
would  alarm  them,  but  when  they 
found  that  no  mischief  followed,  they 
would  be  led  to  despise  the  weapons 
themselves,  and  proceed  to  insults 
which  would  make  it  necessary  to  put 
them  to  the  test,  and  from  which  they 
would  be  deterred  by  the  very  sight 
of  a  gun,  if  it  was  never  used  but  with 
effect. 

At  this  time,  an  accident  furnished 
me  with  what  I  thought  a  happy  ex- 
pedient. It  happened  that  above 
twenty  of  their  sailing  canoes  were 
just  come  in  with  a  supply  of  fish. 
Upon  these  I  immediately  seized,  and, 
bringing  them  into  the  river  behind 
the  fort,  gave  public  notice  that  ex- 
cept the  rake,  and  all  the  rest  of  the 
things  which  from  time  to  time  had 
been  stolen,  were  returned,  the  canoes 
should  be  burned.  This  menace  I 
ventured  to  publish,  though  I  had  no 
design  to  put  it  into  execution,  mak- 
ing no  doubt  but  that  it  was  well 
known  in  whose  possession  the  stolen 
goods  were,  and  that,  as  restitution 
was  thus  made  a  common  cause,  they 
would  all  of  them  in  a  short  time  be 


brought  back.  A  list  of  the  things 
was  made  out,  consisting  principally 
of  the  rake,  the  musket  which  had 
been  taken  from  the  marine  when  the 
Indian  was  shot,  the  pistols  which  Mr 
Banks  lost  with  his  clothes  at  Ata- 
hourou,  a  sword  belonging  to  one  of 
the  petty  officers,  and  the  water  cask. 
About  noon  the  rake  was  restored, 
and  great  solicitation  was  made  for 
the  release  of  the  canoes  ;  but  I  still 
insisted  upon  my  original  condition. 
The  next  day  came,  and  nothing 
further  was  restored,  at  which  I  was 
much  surprised,  for  the  people  were 
in  the  utmost  distress  for  the  fish, 
which  in  a  short  time  would  be  spoilt ; 
I  was,  therefore,  reduced  to  a  dis- 
agreeable situation,  either  of  releasing 
the  canoes,  contrary  to  what  I  had  • 
solemnly  and  publicly  declared,  or 
detaining  them,  to  the  great  injury  of 
those  who  /were  innocent,  without 
answering  any  good  purpose  to  our- 
selves. As  a  temporary  expedient  I 
permitted  them  to  take  the  fish,  but 
still  detained  the  canoes.  This  very 
license,  however,  was  productive  of 
new  confusion  and  injury  ;  for,  it  not 
being  easy  at  once  to  distinguish  to 
what  particular  person  the  several 
lots  of  fish  belonged,  the  canoes  were 
plundered,  under  favour  of  this  cir- 
cumstance, by  those  who  had  no  right 
to  any  part  of  their  cargo.  Most  press- 
ing instances  were  still  made  that  the 
canoes  might  be  restored  ;  and  I,  hav- 
ing now  the  greatest  reason  to  believe 
either  that  the  things  for  which  I  de- 
tained them  were  not  in  the  island, 
or  that  those  who  suffered  by  their 
detention  had  not  sufficient  influ- 
ence over  the  thieves  to  prevail 
upon  them  to  relinquish  their  booty, 
determined  at  length  to  give  them  up, 
not  a  little  mortified  at  the  bad  suc- 
cess of  my  project. 

Another  accident  also  about  thia 
time  was,  notwithstanding  all  our 
caution,  very  near  embroiling  us  with 
the  Indians.  I  sent  the  boat  on  shore, 
with  an  officer,  to  get  ballast  for  the 
ship ;  and,  not  immediately  finding 
stones  convenient  for  the  purpose,  he 
began  to  pull  down  some  part  of  an 
enclosure  where  they  deposited  the 


38 


COOK'S  VOYAGES. 


[VOY.    1. 


bones  of  their  dead.  This  the  Indians 
violently  opposed,  and  a  messenger 
came  down  to  the  tents  to  acquaint 
the  officers  that  they  would  not  suffer 
it.  Mr  Banks  immediately  repaired 
to  the  place,  and  an  amicable  end  was 
soon  put  to  the  dispute,  by  sending 
the  boat's  crew  to  the  river,  where 
stones  enough  were  to  be  gathered 
without  a  possibility  of  giving  offence. 
It  is  very  remarkable,  that  these  In- 
dians appeared  to  be  much  more  jeal- 
ous of  what  was  done  to  the  dead  than 
the  living.  This  was  the  only  measure 
in  which  they  ventured  to  oppose  us, 
and  the  only  insult  that  was  offered 
to  any  individual  among  us  was  upon 
a  similar  occasion.  Mr  Monkhouse 
happening  one  day  to  pull  a  flower 
from  a  tree  which  grew  in  one  of 
their  sepulchral  enclosures,  an  In- 
dian, whose  jealousy  had  probably 
been  upon  the  watch,  came  suddenly 
behind  him,  and  struck  him.  Mr 
Monkhouse  laid  hold  of  him,  but  he 
was  instantly  rescued  by  two  more, 
who  took  hold  of  Mr  Monk  house's 
hair  and  forced  him  to  quit  his  hold 
of  their  companion,  and  then  ran 
away  without  offering  him  any  further 
violence. 

In  the  evening  of  the  19th,  while 
the  canoes  were  still  detained,  we  re- 
ceived a  visit  from  Oberea,  which  sur- 
prised us  not  a  little,  as  she  brought 
with  her  none  of  the  things  that  had 
been  stolen,  and  knew  that  she  was 
suspected  of  having  some  of  them  in 
her  custody.  She  said,  indeed,  that 
her  favourite  Obade"e,  whom  she  had 
beaten  and  dismissed,  had  taken  them 
away  ;  but  she  seemed  conscious  that 
she  had  no  right  to  be  believed.  She 
discovered  the  strongest  signs  of  fear, 
yet  she  surmounted  it  with  astonish- 
ing resolution ;  and  was  very  pressing 
to  sleep  with  her  attendants  in  Mr 
Banks's  tent.  In  this,  however,  she 
was  not  gratified  ;  the  affair  of  the 
jacket  was  too  recent,  and  the  tent 
was,  besides,  filled  with  other  people. 
Nobody  else  seemed  willing  to  enter- 
tain her ;  and  she  therefore,  with 
great  appearance  of  mortification  and 
disappointment,  spent  the  night  in 
her  canoe.  The  next  morning  early, 


she  returned  to  the  fort,  with  her 
canoe  and  everything  that  it  con- 
tained, putting  herself  wholly  into 
our  power,  with  something  like  great- 
ness of  mind,  which  excited  our  won- 
der and  admiration.  As  the  most 
effectual  means  to  bring  about  a  recon- 
ciliation, she  presented  us  with  a  hog, 
and  several  other  things,  among  which 
was  a  dog.  We  had  learned  that 
these  animals  were  esteemed  by  the 
Indians  as  more  delicate  food  than 
their  pork  ;  and  upon  this  occasion 
we  determined  to  try  the  experiment. 
The  dog,  which  was  very  fat,  we  con- 
signed over  to  Tupia,  who  undertook 
to  perform  the  double  office  of  butcher 
and  cook.  He  killed  him  by  holding 
his  hands  close  over  his  mouth  and 
nose,  an  operation  which  continued 
above  a  quarter  of  an  hour.  While 
this  was  doing,  a  hole  was  made  in  the 
ground  about  a  foot  deep,  in  which 
a  fire  was  kindled,  and  some  small 
stones  placed  in  layers  alternately 
with  the  wood  to  heat ;  the  dog  was 
then  singed  by  holding  him  over  the 
fire,  and,  by  scraping  him  with  a 
shell,  the  hair  taken  off  as  clean  as  if 
he  had  been  scalded  in  hot  water. 
He  was  then  cut  up  with  the  same 
instrument,  and  his  entrails,  being 
taken  out,  were  sent  to  the  sea,  where, 
being  carefully  washed,  they  were  put 
into  cocoa-nut  shells,  with  what  blood 
had  come  from  the  body.  When  the 
hole  was  sufficiently  heated,  the  fire 
was  taken  out,  and  some  of  the  stones, 
which  were  not  so  hot  as  to  discolour 
anything  that  they  touched,  being 
placed  at  the  bottom,  were  covered 
with  green  leaves.  The  dog,  with 
the  entrails,  was  then  placed  upon 
the  leaves,  and  other  leaves  being  laid 
upon  them,  the  whole  was  covered 
with  the  rest  of  the  hot  stones,  and 
the  mouth  of  the  hole  close  stopped 
with  mould.  In  somewhat  less  than 
four  hours  it  was  again  opened,  and 
the  dog  taken  out  excellently  baked  ; 
and  we  all  agreed  that  he  had  made 
a  very  good  dish.  The  dogs  which 
are  here  bred  to  be  eaten,  taste  no 
animal  food,  but  are  kept  wholly  upon 
bread-fruit,  cocoa-nuts,  yams,  and 
other  vegetables  of  the  like  kind.  All 


1769.] 

the  flesh  and  fish  eaten  by  the  inha- 
bitants is  dressed  in  the  same  way. 

On  the  21st,  we  were  visited  at  the 
fort  by  a  chief,  called  Oamo,  whom 
we  had  never  seen  before,  and  who 
was  treated  by  the  natives  with  un- 
common respect.  He  brought  with 
him  a  boy  about  seven  years  old,  and 
a  young  woman  about  sixteen ;  the 
boy  was  carried  npon  a  man's  back, 
which  we  considered  as  a  piece  of 
state,  for  he  was  as  well  able  to  walk 
as  any  present.  As  soon  as  they  were 
in  sight,  Oberea  and  several  other 
natives  who  were  in  the  fort  went  out 
to  meet  them,  having  first  uncovered 
their  heads  and  bodies  as  low  as  the 
waist.  As  they  came  on,  the  same 
ceremony  was  performed  by  all  the 
natives  who  were  without  the  fort. 
Uncovering  the  body,  therefore,  is  in 
this  country  probably  a  mark  of  re- 
spect ;  and  as  all  parts  are  here  ex- 
posed with  equal  indifference,  the 
ceremony  of  uncovering  it  from  the 
waist  down  wards,  which  was  performed 
by  Oorattooa,  might  be  nothing  more 
than  a  different  mode  of  compliment 
adapted  to  persons  of  a  different  rank. 
The  chief  came  into  the  tent,  but  no 
entreaty  could  prevail  upon  the  young 
woman  to  follow  him,  though  she 
seemed  to  refuse  contrary  to  her  in- 
clination. The  natives  without  were 
indeed  all  very  solicitous  to  prevent 
her  ;  sometimes,  when  her  resolution 
seemed  to  fail,  almost  using  force. 
The  boy  also  they  restrained  in  the 
same  manner ;  but  Dr  Solander,  hap- 
pening to  meet  him  at  the  gate,  took 
him  by  the  hand,  and  led  him  in 
before  the  people  were  aware  of  it. 
As  soon,  however,  as  those  that  were 
within  saw  him,  they  took  care  to 
have  him  sent  out. 

These  circumstances  having  strong- 
ly excited  our  curiosity,  we  inquired 
who  they  were,  and  were  informed 
that  Oamo  was  the  husband  of  Oberea, 
though  they  had  been  a  long  time 
separated  by  mutual  consent ;  and 
that  the  young  woman  and  the  boy 
were  their  children.  We  learned  also, 
that  the  boy,  whose  name  was  Terri- 
diri,  was  heir-apparent  to  the  sove- 
reignty of  the  island,  and  that  his 


OAMO'S  VISIT  TO  THE  FORT. 


sister  was  intended  for  his  wife,  the 
marriage  being  deferred  only  till  he 
should  arrive  at  a  proper  age.  The 
sovereign  at  this  time  was  a  son  of 
Whappai,  whose  name  was  Outou, 
and  who,  as  before  has  been  observed, 
was  a  minor.  Whappai,  Oamo,  and 
Tootahah,  were  brothers  ;  Whappai 
was  the  eldest,  and  Oamo  the  second  ; 
so  that,  Whappai  having  no  child 
but  Outou,  Terridiri,  the  son  of  his 
next  brother  Oamo,  was  heir  to  the 
sovereignty.  It  will,  perhaps,  seem 
strange  that  a  boy  should  be  sovereign 
during  the  life  of  his  father ;  but, 
according  to  the  custom  of  the  coun- 
try, a  child  succeeds  to  a  father's  title 
and  authority  as  soon  as  it  is  born. 
A  regent  is  then  elected,  and  the  father 
of  the  new  sovereign  is  generally  con- 
tinued in  his  authority,  under  that 
title,  till  his  child  is  of  age  ;  but,  at 
this  time,  the  choice  had  fallen  upon 
Tootahah,  the  uncle,  in  consequence 
of  his  having  distinguished  himself 
in  a  war.  Oamo  asked  many  ques- 
tions concerning  England  and  its  in- 
habitants, by  which  he  appeared  to 
have  great  shrewdness  and  under- 
standing. 

On  Monday  the  26th,  about  3  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  I  set  out  in  the  pin- 
nace, accompanied  by  Mr  Banks,  to 
make  the  circuit  of  the  island,  with 
a  view  to  sketch  out  the  coast  and 
harbours.  We  took  our  route  to  the 
eastward,  and  about  eight  in  the  fore- 
noon we  went  on  shore,  in  a  district 
called  Oahounue,  which  is  governed 
by  Ahio,  a  young  chief,  whom  we  had 
often  seen  at  the  tents,  and  who  fav- 
oured us  with  his  company  to  break- 
fast. Here  also  we  found  two  other 
natives  of  our  old  acquaintance,  Titu- 
boalo  and  Hoona,  who  carried  us  to 
their  houses,  near  which  we  saw  the 
body  of  the  old  woman  at  whoso 
funeral  rites  Mr  Banks  had  assisted, 
which  had  been  removed  hither  from 
the  spot  where  it  was  first  deposited 
— this  place  having  descended  from 
her  by  inheritance  to  Hoona,  and  it 
being  necessary  on  that  account  that 
it  should  lie  here.  We  then  proceeded 
on  foot,  the  boat  attending  within  call, 
to  the  harbour  in  which  Mr  Bougain- 


COOK'S  VOYAGES. 


[VOY.  I. 


ville  lay,  called  Ohulea,  where  the 
natives  showed  us  the  ground  upon 
which  his  people  pitched  their  tent, 
and  the  brook  at  which  they  watered, 
though  no  trace  of  them  remained, 
except  the  holes  where  the  poles  of 
the  tent  had  been  fixed,  and  a  small 
piece  of  potsherd  which  Mr  Banks 
found  in  looking  narrowly  about  the 
spot.  We  met,  however,  with  Orette, 
a  chief  who  was  their  principal  friend) 
and  whose  brother  Outorrou  went 
away  with  them.  This  harbour  lies 
on  the  west  side  of  a  great  bay,  under 
shelter  of  a  sm  all  island  call  ed  Boourou, 
near  which  is  another  called  Taawir- 
rii.  The  breach  in  the  reefs  is  here 
very  large,  but  the  shelter  for  the 
ships  is  not  the  best. 

Soon  after  we  had  examined  this 

Ce  we  took  boat,'  and  asked  Titu- 
o  to  go  with  us  to  the  other  side 
of  the  bay ;  but  he  refused,  and  ad- 
vised us  not  to  go,  for  he  said  the 
country  there  was  inhabited  by  people 
who  were  not  subject  to  Tootahah,  and 
who  would  kill  both  him  and  us. 
Upon  receiving  this  intelligence,  we 
did  not,  as  may  be  imagined,  relin- 
quish our  enterprise  ;  but  we  imme- 
diately loaded  our  pieces  with  ball. 
This  was  so  well  understood  by  Titu- 
boalo  as  a  precaution,  which  rendered 
us  formidable,  that  he  now  consented 
to  be  of  our  party.  Having  rowed 
till  it  was  dark,  we  reached  a  low  neck 
of  land,  or  isthmus,  at  the  bottom  of 
the  bay,  that  divides  the  island  into 
two  peninsulas,  each  of  which  is  a  dis- 
trict or  government  wholly  indepen- 
dent of  the  other.  From  Port  Royal, 
where  the  ship  was  at  anchor,  the 
coast  trends  E.  by  S.  and  ESE.  ten 
miles,  then  S.  by  E.  and  S.  eleven  miles 
to  the  isthmus.  In  the  first  direction 
the  shore  is  in  general  open  to  the  sea ; 
but  in  the  last  it  is  covered  by  reefs 
of  rocks,  which  form  several  good 
harbours,  with  safe  anchorage,  in  six- 
teen, eighteen,  twenty,  and  twenty- 
four  fathoms  of  water,  with  other  con- 
venien<*s.  As  we  had  not  yet  got 
into  our  enemy's  country,  we  deter- 
mined to  sleep  on  shore.  We  landed, 
and,  though  we  found  but  few  houses, 
we  saw  several  double  canoes,  whose 


owners  were  well  known  to  us,  and 
who  provided  us  with  supper  and 
lodging,  of  which  Mr  Banks  was  in- 
debted for  his  share  to  Oorattooa,  the 
lady  who  had  paid  him  her  compli- 
ments in  so  singular  a  manner  at  the 
fort. 

In  the  morning  we  looked  about  the 
country,  and  found  it  to  be  a  marshy 
flat,  about  two  miles  over,  across 
which  the  natives  haul  their  canoes  to 
the  corresponding  bay  on  the  other 
side.  We  then  prepared  to  continue 
our  route  for  what  Tituboalo  called 
the  other  kingdom.  He  said  that  the 
name  of  it  was  Tiarrabou,  or  Otaheite 
Ete ;  and  that  of  the  chief  who  go- 
verned it,  Waheatua.  Upon  this  oc- 
casion, also,  we  learned  that  the  name 
of  the  peninsula  where  we  had  taken 
our  station  was  Opoureonu,  or  Ota- 
heite Nue.  Our  new  associate  seemed 
to  be  now  in  better  spirits  than  he 
had  been  the  day  before.  The  people 
in  Tiarrabou  would  not  kill  us,  he 
said ;  but  he  assured  us  that  we 
should  be  able  to  procure  no  victuals 
among  them ;  and  indeed  we  had 
seen  no  bread-fruit  since  we  set  out. 

After  rowing  a  few  miles,  we  landed 
in  a  district  which  was  the  dominion 
of  a  chief  called  Maraitata,  "the  bury- 
ing-place  of  men,"  whose  father's 
name  was  Pahairedo,  "the  stealer  of 
boats."  Though  these  names  seemed 
to  favour  the  account  that  had  been 
given  by  Tituboalo,  we  soon  found 
that  it  was  not  true.  Both  the  father 
and  the  son  received  us  with  the 
greatest  civility,  gave  us  provisions, 
and,  after  some  delay,  sold  us  a  very 
large  hog  for  a  hatchet.  A  crowd 
soon  gathered  round  us,  but  we  saw 
only  two  people  that  we  knew ;  neither 
did  we  observe  a  single  bead  or  or- 
nament among  them  that  had  come 
from  our  ship,  though  we  saw  several 
things  which  had  been  brought  from 
Europe.  In  one  of  the  houses  lay  two 
12-pound  shot,  one  of  which  was 
marked  with  the  broad  arrow  of  Eng- 
land, though  the  people  said  they  had 
them  from  the  ships  that  lay  in'Bou- 
gainville's  harbour. 

We  proceeded  on  foot  tm  we  came 
to  the  district  whicb  was  immediately 


1769.] 


CIRCUMNAVIGATION  OF  THE  ISLAND. 


under  the  government  of  the  principal 
chief,  or  king,  of  the  peninsula,  Wa- 
heatua. Waheatua  had  a  son,  but 
whether,  according  to  the  custom  of 
Opoureonu,  he  administered  the  go- 
vernment as  regent  or  in  his  own 
right,  is  uncertain.  This  district 
consists  of  a  large  and  fertile  plain 
watered  by  a  river  so  wide  that  we 
were  obliged  to  ferry  over  it  in  a  canoe ; 
our  Indian  train,  however,  chose  to 
swim,  and  took  to  the  water  with  the 
same  facility  as  a  pack  of  hounds. 
In  this  place  we  saw  no  house  that 
appeared  to  be  inhabited,  but  the 
ruins  of  many  that  had  been  very 
large.  We  proceeded  along  the  shore, 
which  forms  a  bay  called  Oaitipeha, 
and  at  last  found  the  chief  sitting 
near  some  pretty  canoe  awnings,  under 
which,  we  supposed,  he  and  his  at- 
tendants slept.  He  was  a  thin  old 
man,  with  a  very  white  head  and 
beard,  and  had  with  him  a  comely 
woman,  about  five-and-twenty  years 
old,  whose  name  was  Toudidde.  We 
had  often  heard  the  name  of  this 
woman,  and,  from  report  and  obser- 
vation, we  had  reason  to  think  that 
she  was  the  Oberea  of  this  peninsula. 
From  this  place — between  which  and 
the  isthmus  there  are  other  harbours, 
formed  by  the  reefs  that  lie  along  the 
shore,  where  shipping  may  lie  in  per- 
fect security,  and  from  whence  the 
land  trends  SSE.  and  S.  to  the  SE., 
part  of  the  island — we  were  accom- 
panied by  Tearee,  the  son  of  Waheatua, 
of  whom  we  had  purchased  a  hog. 
The  country  we  passed  through  ap- 
peared to  be  more  cultivated  than  any 
we  had  seen  in  other  parts  of  the  island ; 
the  brooks  were  everywhere  banked 
into  narrow  channels  with  stone,  and 
the  shore  had  also  a  facing  of  stone, 
where  it  was  washed  by  the  sea.  The 
houses  were  neither  large  nor  numer- 
ous, but  the  canoes  that  were  hauled 
up  along  the  shore  were  almost  innu- 
merable, and  superior  to  any  that  we 
had  seen  before,  both  in  size  and 
make.  They  were  longer,  the  sterns 
were  higher,  and  the  awnings  were 
supported  by  pillars.  At  almost  every 
point  there  was  a  sepulchral  building, 
and  there  were  many  of  them  also  in- 


land.  They  were  of  the  same  figure 
as  those  in  Opoureonu,  but  cleaner 
and  better  kept,  and  decorated  with 
many  carved  boards,  which  were  set 
upright,  and  on  the  top  of  which  were 
various  figures  of  birds  and  men.  On 
one,  in  particular,  there  was  the  re- 
presentation of  a  cock,  which  WAS 
painted  red  and  yellow,  to  imitate  the 
feathers  of  that  animal;  and  rude 
images  of  men  were,  in  some  of  them, 
placed  one  upon  the  head  of  another. 
But  in  this  part  of  the  country,  how- 
ever fertile  and  cultivated,  we  did  not 
see  a  single  bread-fruit ;  the  trees  were 
entirely  bare,  and  the  inhabitants 
seemed  to  subsist  principally  upon 
nuts  which  are  not  unlike  a  chestnut, 
and  which  they  call  Ahee. 

When  we  had  walked  till  we  were 
weary,  we  called  up  the  boat,  but 
both  our  Indians,  Tituboalo  and  Tua- 
how,  were  missing.  They  had,  it 
seems,  stayed  behind  at  Waheatua's, 
expecting  us  to  return  thither,  in  con- 
sequence of  a  promise  which  had  been 
extorted  from  us,  and  which  we  had 
it  not  in  our  power  to  fulfil.  Tearee, 
however,  and  another,  embarked  with 
us,  and  we  proceeded  till  we  came 
abreast  of  a  small  island  called  Otoo- 
areite.  It  being  then  dark,  we  deter- 
mined to  land,  and  our  Indians  con- 
ducted us  to  a  place  where  they  said 
we  might  sleep.  It  was  a  deserted 
house,  and  near  it  was  a  little  cove  in 
which  the  boat  might  lie  with  great 
safety  and  convenience.  We  were, 
however,  in  want  oi'  provisions,  hav- 
ing been  very  sparingly  supplied  since 
We  set  out ;  and  Mr  Banks  immedi- 
ately went  into  the  woods  to  see 
whether  any  could  be  procured.  As 
it  was  dark  he  met  with  no  people, 
and  could  find  but  one  house  that  was 
inhabited.  A  bread-fruit  and  a  half, 
a  few  ahees,  and  some  fire,  were  all 
that  it  afforded ;  upon  which,  with  a 
duck  or  two  and  a  few  curlews,  we 
made  our  supper,  which,  if  not  scanty, 
was  disagreeable  by  the  want  of  bread, 
with  which  we  had  neglected  to  fur- 
nish ourselves,  as  we  depended  upon 
meeting  with  bread-fruit.  We  took  up 
our  lodging  \\ndertheawningof  a  canoe 
belonging  to  Tearee,  which  followed  us. 


The  next  morning,  after  having 
spent  some  time  in  another  fruitless 
attempt  to  procure  a  supply  of  provi- 
sions, we  proceeded  round  the  south- 
east point,  part  of  which  is  not  covered 
by  any  reef,  but  lies  open  to  the  sea  ; 
and  here  the  hill  rises  directly  from 
the  shore.  At  the  southernmost  part 
of  the  island  the  shore  is  again  covered 
by  a  reef,  which  forms  a  good  harbour, 
and  the  land  about  it  is  very  fertile. 
"We  made  this  route  partly  on  foot 
and  partly  in  the  boat.  When  we  had 
walked  about  three  miles,  we  arrived 
at  a  place  where  we  saw  several  large 
canoes  and  a  number  of  people  with 
them,  whom  we  were  agreeably  sur- 
prised to  find  were  of  our  intimate  ac- 
quaintance. Here,  with  much  diffi- 
culty, we  procured  some  cocoa-nuts, 
and  then  embarked,  taking  with  us 
Tuahow,  one  of  the  Indians  who  had 
waited  for  us  at  Waheatua's,  and  had 
returned  the  night  before,  long  after  it 
was  dark. 

When  we  came  abreast  of  the  south- 
east end  of  the  island  we  went  ashore, 
by  the  advice  of  our  Indian  guide,  who 
told  us  that  the  country  was  rich  and 
good.  The  chief,  whose  name  was 
Mathiabo,  soon  came  down  to  us,  but 
seemed  to  be  a  total  stranger  both  to 
us  and  to  our  trade.  His  subjects, 
however,  brought  us  plenty  of  cocoa- 
nuts  and  about  twenty  bread-fruit. 
The  bread-fruit  we  bought  at  a  very 
dear  rate,  but  his  excellency  sold  us  a 
pig  for  a  glass  bottle,  which  he  pre- 
ferred to  everything  else  that  we  could 
give  him.  We  found  in  his  posses- 
sion a  goose  and  a  turkey-cock,  which, 
we  were  informed,  had  been  left  upon 
the  island  by  the  Dolphin ;  they  were 
both  enormously  fat,  and  so  tame  that 
they  followed  the  Indians,  who  were 
fond  of  them  to  excess,  wherever  they 
went. 

In  a  long  house  in  this  neighbour- 
hood we  saw  what  was  altogether  new 
to  us.  At  one  end  of  it,  fastened  to 
a  semicircular  board,  hung  fifteen 
human  jaw-bones;  they  appeared  to 
be  fresh,  and  there  was  not  one  of 
them  that  wanted  a  single  tooth.  A 
sight  so  extraordinary  strongly  excited 
our  curiosity,  and  we  made  many  in- 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.  (TOY.  I. 

quiries  about  it ;  but  at  this  time  could 
get  no  information,  for  the  people 
either  could  not  or  would  not  under- 
stand us. 

When  we  left  this  place,  the  chief, 
Mathiabo,  desired  leave  to  accompany 
us,  which  was  readily  granted.  He 
continued  with  us  the  remainder  of 
the  day,  and  proved  very  useful  by 
piloting  us  over  the  shoals.  In  the 
evening  we  opened  the  bay  on  the 
north-west  side  of  the  island,  which 
answered  to  that  on  the  south-east,  so 
as  at  the  isthmus,  or  carrying-place, 
almost  to  intersect  the  island,  as  I 
have  observed  before  ;  and  when  we 
had  coasted  about  two-thirds  of  it  we 
determined  to  go  on  shore  for  the 
night.  We  saw  a  large  house  at  some 
distance,  which,  Mathiabo  informed 
us,  belonged  to  one  of  his  friends ; 
and  soon  after  several  canoes  came  off 
to  meet  us,  having  on  board  some 
very  handsome  women,  who,  by  their 
behaviour,  seemed  to  have  been  sent 
to  entice  us  on  shore.  As  we  had  be- 
fore resolved  to  take  up  our  residence 
here  for  the  night,  little  invitation 
was  necessary.  We  found  that  the 
house  belonged  to  the  chief  of  the 
district,  whose  name  was  Wiverou ; 
he  received  us  in  a  very  friendly  man- 
ner, and  ordered  his  people  to  assist 
us  in  dressing  our  provision,  of  which 
we  had  now  got  a  tolerable  stock. 
When  our  supper  was  ready,  we  were 
conducted  into  that  part  of  the  house 
where  Wiverou  was  sitting  in  order  to 
eat  it.  Mathiabo  supped  with  us,  and 
Wiverou  calling  for  his  supper  at  the 
same  time,  we  ate  our  meal  very  soci- 
ably, and  with  great  good  humour. 
When  it  was  over  we  began  to  inquire 
where  we  were  to  sleep,  and  a  part  of 
the  house  was  shown  us,  of  which  we 
were  told  we  might  take  possession 
for  that  purpose.  We  then  sent  for 
our  cloaks,  and  Mr  Banks  began  to 
undress,  as  his  custom  was ;  and,  with 
a  precaution  which  he  had  been  taught 
by  the  loss  of  the  jackets  at  Atahourou, 
sent  his  clothes  aboard  the  boat,  pro- 
posing to  cover  himself  with  a  piece 
of  Indian  cloth.  When  Mathiabo 
perceived  what  was  doing,  he  also  pre- 
tended to  want  a  cloak ;  and,  as  he  had 


1769.] 

behaved  very  well,  and  done  us  some 
service,  a  cloak  was  ordered  for  him. 
We  lay  down,  and  observed  that  Ma- 
thiabo was  not  with  us  ;  but  we  sup- 
posed that  he  was  gone  to  bathe,  as 
the  Indians  always  do  before  they 
sleep.  We  had  not  waited  long, 
however,  when  an  Indian,  who  was  a 
stranger  to  us,  came  and  told  Mr 
Banks  that  the  cloak  and  Mathiabo 
had  disappeared  together.  This  man 
had  so  far  gained  our  confidence  that 
we  did  not  at  first  believe  the  report ; 
but  it  being  soon  after  confirmed  by 
Tuahow,  our  own  Indian,  we  knew  no 
time  was  to  be  lost. 

As  it  was  impossible  for  us  to  pur- 
sue the  thief  with  any  hope  of  success, 
without  the  assistance  of  the  people 
about  us,  Mr  Banks  started  up,  and 
telling  our  case,  required  them  to 
recover  the  cloak  ;  and  to  enforce  this 
requisition,  showed  one  of  his  pocket- 
pistols,  which  he  always  kept  about 
him.  Upon  the  sight  of  the  pistol, 
the  whole  company  took  the  alarm, 
and,  instead  of  assisting  to  catch  the 
thief,  or  recover  what  had  been  stolen, 
tegan  with  great  precipitation  to 
leave  the  place;  one  of  them,  how- 
ever, was  seized,  upon  which  he  im- 
mediately offered  to  direct  the  chase. 
I  set  out  therefore  with  Mr  Banks, 
and  though  we  ran  all  the  way,  the 
alarm  had  got  before  us,  for  in  about 
ten  minutes  we  met  a  man  bringing 
back  the  cloak,  which  the  thief  had 
relinquished  in  great  terror  ;  and  as 
we  did  not  then  think  fit  to  continue 
the  pursuit,  he  made  his  escape. 
When  we  returned,  we  found  the 
house,  in  which  there  had  been  be- 
tween 200  and  300  people,  entirely 
deserted.  It  being,  however,  soon 
known  that  we  had  no  resentment 
against  anybody  but  Mathiabo,  the 
chief,  Wiverou,  our  host,  with  his 
wife  and  many  others,  returned  and 


OTHER  CASES  OF  THEFT.  43 

grappling,  which  was  not  above  fifty 
yards  from  the  shore ;  but,  upon 
hearing  the  sound  of  oars,  he  had 
looked  out  again,  and  could  see 
nothing  of  her.  At  this  account  we 
started  up  greatly  alarmed,  and  ran 
to  the  water-side.  The  morning  was 
clear  and  star-light,  so  that  we  could 
see  to  a  considerable  distance,  but 
there  was  no  appearance  of  the  boat. 
Our  situation  was  now  such  as  might 
justify  the  most  terrifying  apprehen- 
sions ;  as  it  was  a  dead  calm,  and  we 
could  not  therefore  suppose  her  to 
have  broken  from  her  grappling,  we 
had  great  reason  to  fear  that  the 
Indians  had  attacked  her,  and,  find- 
ing the  people  asleep,  had  succeeded 
in  their  enterprise.  We  were  but 
four,  with  only  one  musket  and  two 
pocket-pistols,  without  a  spare  ball 
or  charge  of  powder  for  either.  In 
this  state  of  anxiety  and  distress  we 
remained  a  considerable  time,  ex- 
pecting the  Indians  every  moment  to 
improve  their  advantage — when  to 
our  unspeakable  satisfaction,  we  saw 
the  boat  return,  which  had  been 
driven  from  her  grappling  by  the 
tide ;  a  circumstance  to  which,  in 
our  confusion  and  surprise,  we  did 
not  advert.  As  soon  as  the  boat  re- 
turned, we  got  our  breakfast,  and 
were  impatient  to  leave  the  place, 
lest  some  other  vexatious  accident 
should  befall  us.  It  is  situated  on 
the  north  side  of  Tiarrabou,  the 
south-east  peninsula,  or  division,  of 
the  island,  and  at  the  distance  of 
about  five  miles  south-east  from  the 
isthmus,  having  a  large  and  commod- 
ious harbour,  inferior  to  none  in  the 
island,  about  which  the  land  is  very 
rich  in  produce.  Notwithstanding 
we  had  little  communication  with 
this  division,  the  inhabitants  every- 
where received  us  in  a  friendly  man- 
ner :  we  found  the  whole  of  it  fertile 


took  up  their  lodgings  with  us  for 
the  night.      In  this  place,  however, 
we  were  destined  to  more  confusion 
and  trouble;    for  about  5  o'clock  in 
the  morning  our  sentry  alarmed  us  | 
with  an  account  that  the  boat  was  I 
missing.     He  had  seen  her,  he  said,  I 
about    half -an -hour    before,    at  her  I 


and  populous,  and,  to  all  appearance, 
in  a  more  flourishing  state  than 
Opoureonu,  though  it  is  not  above 
one-fourth  part  as  large. 

The  next  district  in  which  we 
landed,  was  the  last  in  Tiarrabou, 
and  governed  by  a  chief,  whose  name 
we  understood  to  be  Omoe.  Omoe 


44 


COOK'S  VOYAGES. 


[VoY.T. 


was  building  a  house,  and  being 
therefore  very  desirous  of  procuring  a 
hatchet,  he  would  have  been  glad  to 
have  purchased  one  with  anything 
that  he  had  in  his  possession  ;  it 
happened,  however,  rather  unfortun- 
ately for  him  and  us,  that  we  had  not 
one  hatchet  left  in  the  boat.  We 
offered  to  trade  with  nails,  but  he 
would  not  part  with  anything  in  ex- 
change for  them.  We  therefore  re- 
embarked,  and  put  off  our  boat ;  but 
the  chief  being  unwilling  to  relin- 
quish all  hope  of  obtaining  some- 
thing from  us  that  would  be  of  use  to 
him,  embarked  in  a  canoe,  with  his 
wife  Whanno-ouda,  and  followed  us. 
After  some  time,  we  took  them  into 
the  boat,  and  when  we  had  rowed 
about  a  league,  they  desired  we  would 
put  ashore.  We  immediately  com- 
plied with  his  request,  and  found 
some  of  his  people,  who  had  brought 
down  a  very  large  hog.  We  were  as 
unwilling  to  lose  the  hog,  as  the  chief 
was  to  part  with  us,  and  it  was  in- 
deed worth  the  best  axe  we  had  in 
the  ship  ;  we  therefore  hit  upon  an 
expedient,  and  told  him  that  if  he 
would  bring  his  hog  to  the  fort  at 
Matavai — the  Indian  name  for  Port 
Royal  Bay — he  should  have  a  large 
axe  and  a  nail  into  the  bargain  for 
his  trouble.  To  this  proposal,  after 
having  consulted  with  his  wife,  he 
agreed,  and  gave  us  a  large  piece  of 
his  country-cloth  as  a  pledge  that  he 
would  perform  his  agreement,  which, 
however,  he  never  did. 

At  this  place  we  saw  a  very  singu- 
lar curiosity.  It  was  the  figure  of 
a  man,  constructed  of  basket-work, 
rudely  made,  but  not  ill  designed  ; 
it  was  something  more  than  seven 
feet  high,  and  rather  too  bulky  in 
proportion  to  its  height.  The  wicker 
skeleton  was  completely  covered  with 
feathers,  which  were  white  where  the 
skin  was  to  appear,  and  black  in  the 
parts  which  it  is  their  custom  to 
paint  or  stain,  and  upon  the  head 
where  there  was  to  be  a  representation 
of  hair.  Upon  the  head  also  were 
four  protuberances,  three  in  front 
and  one  behind,  which  we  should 
have  called  horns,  but  which  the 


Indians  dignified  with  the  name  of 
"  Tate  Ete  "—little  men.  The  image 
was  called  Manioc,  and  was  said  to 
be  the  only  one  of  the  kind  in  Ota- 
heite.  They  attempted  to  give  us  an 
explanation  of  its  use  and  design,  but 
we  had  not  then  acquired  enough  of 
their  language  to  understand  them. 
We  learned,  however,  afterwards,  that 
it  was  a  representation  of  Mauwe,  one 
of  their  Eatuas,  or  gods  of  the  second 
class. 

After  having  settled  our  affairs  with 
Ornoe,  we  proceeded  on  our  return, 
and  soon  reached  Opoureonu,  the 
north-west  peninsula.  After  rowing 
a  few  miles,  we  went  on  shore  again, 
but  the  only  thing  we  saw  worth 
notice,  was  a  repository  for  the  dead, 
uncommonly  decorated.  The  pave- 
ment was  extremely  neat,  and  upon 
it  was  raised  a  pyramid,  about  five 
feet  high,  which  was  entirely  covered 
with  the  fruits  of  two  plants  peculiar 
to  the  country.  Near  the  pyramid 
was  a  small  image  of  stone,  of  very 
rude  workmanship,  and  the  first  in- 
stance of  carving  in  stone  that  we 
had  seen  among  these  people.  They 
appeared  to  set  a  high  t*lue  upon  it, 
for  it  was  covered  from  t\  e  weather  by 
a  sh  ed  th at  h ad  been  erect-id  on  purpose. 

We  proceeded  in  the  boat,  and 
passed  through  the  only  harbour,  on 
the  south  side  of  Opoureonu,  that  is 
fit  for  shipping.  It  is  situated  about 
five  miles  to  the  westward  of  the 
isthmus,  between  two  small  islands 
that  lie  near  the  shore,  about  a  mile 
distant  from  each  other  ;  and  affords 
good  anchorage  in  eleven  and  twelve 
fathoms  water.  We  were  now  not  far 
from  the  district  called  Paparra,  which 
belonged  to  our  friends  Oamo  and 
Oberea,  where  we  proposed  to  sleep. 
We  went  on  shore  about  an  hour  before 
night,  and  found  that  they  were  both 
absent,  having  left  their  habitations 
to  pay  us  a  visit  at  Matavai.  This, 
however  did  not  alter  our  purpose; 
we  took  up  our  quarters  at  the  house 
of  Oberea,  which,  though  small,  was 
very  neat,  and  at  this  time  had  no 
inhabitant  but  her  father,  who  re- 
ceived us  with  looks  that  bid  us  wel- 
come. Having  taken  possession,  we 


1769.] 


DESCRIPTION  OF  A  "MORAL1 


45 


were  willing  to  improve  the  little 
day-light  that  was  left  us,  and  there- 
fore walked  out  to  a  point  upon  which 
we  had  seen,  at  a  distance,  trees  that 
are  here  called  "etoa,"  which  gener- 
ally distinguish  the  places  where  these 
people  bury  the  bones  of  their  dead. 
Their  name  for  such  burying-grounds, 
which  are  also  places  of  worship,  is 
"  morai."  We  were  soon  struck  with 
the  sight  of  an  enormous  pile,  which, 
we  were  told,  was  the  Morai  of  Oamo 
and  Oberea,  and  the  principal  piece 
of  Indian  architecture  in  the  island. 
It  was  a  pile  of  stone-work,  raised 
•pyramidically,  upon  an  oblong  base, 
or  square,  two  hundred  and  sixty- 
seven  feet  long,  and  eighty-seven 
wide.  It  was  built  like  the  small 
pyramidal  mounts  upon  which  we 
sometimes  fix  the  pillar  of  a  sun-dial, 
where  each  side  is  a  flight  of  steps  ; 
the  steps,  however,  at  the  sides,  were 
broader  than  those  at  the  ends,  so 
that  it  terminated  not  in  a  square  of 
the  same  figure  with  the  base,  but  in 
a  ridge,  like  the  roof  of  a  house. 
There  were  eleven  of  these  steps,  each 
of  which  was  four  feet  high,  so  that 
the  height  of  the  pile  was  forty-four 
feet  ;  each  step  was  formed  of  one 
course  of  white  coral-stone,  which 
was  neatly  squared  and  polished ;  |;he 
rest  of  the  mass,  for  there  was  no  hol- 
low within,  consisted  of  round  peb- 
bles, which,  from  the  regularity  of 
their  figure,  seemed  to  have  been 
wrought.  Some  of  the  coral-stones 
were  very  large  ;  we  measured  one  of 
them,  and  found  it  three  feet  and  a 
half  by  two  feet  and  a  half.  The 
foundation  was  of  rock  stones,  which 
were  also  squared  ;  and  one  of  them 
measured  four  feet  seven  inches  by 
two  feet  four.  Such  a  structure, 
raised  without  the  assistance  of  iron- 
tools  to  shape  the  stones,  or  mortar 
to  join  them,  struck  us  with  astonish- 
ment. It  seemed  to  be  as  compact 
and  firm  as  it  could  have  been  made 
by  any  workman  in  Europe,  except 
that  the  steps,  which  range  along  its 
greatest  length,  are  not  perfectly 
straight,  but  sink  in  a  kind  of  hollow 
in  the  middle,  so  that  the  whole  sur- 
face, from  end  to  end,  is  not  a  right 


line,  but  a  curve.  The  quarry  stones, 
as  we  saw  no  quarry  in  the  neighbour- 
hood, must  have  been  brought  from 
a  considerable  distance  ;  and  there  is 
no  method  of  conveyance  here  but  by 
hand.  The  coral  must  also  have 
been  fished  from  under  the  water, 
where,  though  it  may  be  found  in 
plenty,  it  lies  at  a  considerable  depth, 
never  less  than  three  feet.  Both  the 
rock-stone  and  the  coral  could  be 
squared  only  by  tools  made  of  the 
same  substance,  which  must  have 
been  a  work  of  incredible  labour ;  but 
the  polishing  was  more  easily  effected 
by  means  of  the  sharp  coral  sand, 
which  is  found  everywhere  upon  the 
sea-shore  in  great  abundance.  In  the 
middle  of  the  top  stood  the  image  of 
a  bird,  carved  in  wood  ;  and  near  it 
lay  the  broken  one  of  a  iish,  carved 
in  stone.  The  whole  of  this  pyramid 
made  part  of  one  side  of  a  spacious 
area  or  square,  nearly  of  equal  sides, 
being  360  feet  by  354,  which  was 
walled  in  with  stone,  and  paved  with 
flat  stones  in  its  whole  extent ;  though 
there  were  growing  in  it,  notwith* 
standing  the  pavement,  several  of  the 
trees  which  they  call  "etoa,"  and 
plantains.  About  a  hundred  yards 
to  the  west  of  this  building,  was 
another  paved  area  or  court,  in  which 
were  several  small  stages  raised  on 
wooden  pillars,  about  seven  feet  high, 
which  are  called  by  the  Indians 
"ewattas,"1  and  seem  to  be  a  kind 
of  altars,  as  upon  these  are  placed 
provisions  of  all  kinds  as  offerings  to 
their  gods.  We  have  since  seen 
whole  hogs  placed  upon  them,  and 
we  found  here  the  skulls  of  above 
fifty,  besides  the  skulls  of  a  great 
number  of  dogs. 

The  principal  object  of  ambition 
among  these  people  is  to  have  a  mag- 
nificent Ijlprai,  and  this  was  a  strik- 
ing memorial  of  the  rank  and  power 
of  Oberea.  It  has  been  remarked 
that  we  di4  not  find  her  invested 
with  the  same  authority  she  exercised 

1  Subsequently  described  in  the 
account  of  the  stay  at  Tongataboo 
(Voyage  III.)  under  the  designation 
of  "whattas." 


46 


COOK'S  VOYAGES. 


[VOY. ''. 


when  the  Dolphin  was  at  this  place, 
and  we  now  learned  the  reason  of  it. 
Our  way  from  her  house  to  the  Morai 
lay  along  the  seaside,  and  we  observed 
everywhere  under  our  feet  a  great 
number  of  human  bones,  chiefly  ribs 
and  vertebrae.  Upon  inquiring  into 
the  cause  of  so  singular  an  appearance, 
we  were  told  that  in  the  then  last 
month  of  Owarahew,  which  answered 
to  our  December,  1768,  about  four  or 
five  months  before  our  arrival,  the 
people  of  Tiarrabou,  the  SE.  penin- 
sula which  we  had  just  visited,  made 
a  descent  at  this  place,  and  killed  i  a 
great  number  of  people,  whose  bones 
were  those  that  we  saw  upon  the 
shore ;  that  upon  this  occasion  Oberea 
and  Oamo,  who  then  administered 
the  government  for  his  son,  had  fled 
to  the  mountains  ;  and  that  the  con- 
querors burned  all  the  houses,  which 
were  very  large,  and  carried  away  the 
hogs  and  what  other  animals  they 
found.  "We  learned  also  that  the 
turkey  and  goose  which  we  had  seen 
when  we  were  with  Mathiabo,  the 
stealer  of  cloaks,  were  among  the 
spoils.  This  accounted  for  their  be- 
ing found  among  people  with  whom 
the  Dolphin  had  little  or  no  commu- 
nication ;  and  upon  mentioning  the 
jawbones  which  we  had  seen  hanging 
from  a  board  in  a  long  house,  we  were 
told  that  they  also  had  been  carried 
away  as  trophies,  the  people  here 
carrying  away  the  jaw-bones  of  their 
enemies,  as  the  Indians  of  North 
America  do  the  scalps. 

After  having  thus  gratified  our 
curiosity,  we  returned  to  our  quarters, 
where  we  passed  the  night  in  perfect 
security  and  quiet.  By  the  next 
evening  we  arrived  at  Atahourou,  the 
residence  of  our  friend  Tootahah,. 
where,  last  time  we  passed  the  night 
under  his  protection,  we  had  been 
obliged  to  leave  the  best  part  of  our 
clothes  behind  us.  This  adventure, 
however,  seemed  now  to  be  forgotten 
on  both  sides.  Our  friends  received 
us  with  great  pleasure,  and  gave  us  a 
good  supper  and  a  good  lodging,  where 
we  suffered  neither  loss  nor  disturb- 
ance. 

Tiie  next  day,  Saturday,  July  the 


1st,  we  got  back  to  our  fort  at  Matv 
vai,  having  found  the  circuit  of  the 
island,  including  both  peninsulas,  to 
be  about  thirty  leagues.  Upon  our 
complaining  of  the  want  of  bread- 
fruit, we  were  told  that  the  produce 
of  the  last  season  was  nearly  ex- 
hausted, and  that  what  was  seen 
sprouting  upon  the  trees  would  not 
be  fit  to  use  in  less  than  three  months. 
This  accounted  for  our  having  been 
able  to  procure  so  little  of  it  In  our 
route.  While  the  bread-fruit  is  rip- 
ening upon  the  flats,  the  inhabitants 
are  supplied  in  some  measure  from 
the  trees  which  they  have  planted 
upon  the  hills  to  preserve  a  succes- 
sion ;  but  the  quantity  is  not  suffi- 
cient to  prevent  scarcity.  They  live 
therefore  upon  the  sour  paste  which 
they  call  "mahie,"  upon  wild  plan- 
tains, and  ahee-nuts,  which  at  this 
time  are  in  perfection.  How  it  hap- 
pened that  the  Dolphin,  which  was 
here  at  this  season,  found  such  plenty 
of  bread-fruit  upon  the  trees  I  cannot 
tell,  except  the  season  in  which  they 
ripen  varies. 

At  our  return,  our  Indian  friends 
crowded  about  us,  and  none  of  them 
came  empty-handed.  Though  I  had 
determined  to  restore  to  their  owners 
the  canoes  which  had  been  detained, 
it  had  not  yet  been  done  ;  but  I  now 
released  them  as  they  were  applied 
for.  Upon  this  occasion  I  could  not 
but  remark  with  concern  that  these 
people  were  capable  of  practising  petty 
frauds  against  each  other,  with  a  de- 
liberate dishonesty  which  gave  me  a 
much  worse  opinion  of  them,  than  I 
had  ever  entertained  from  the  rob- 
beries they  committed  under  the  strong 
temptation,  to  which  a  sudden  oppor- 
tunity of  enriching  themselves  with  the 
inestimable  metal  and  manufactures  of 
Europe  exposed  them.  Among  others 
who  applied  to  me  for  the  release  of 
a  canoe  was  one  Potattow,  a  man  of 
some  consequence,  well  known  to  us 
all.  I  consented,  supposing  the  ves- 
sel to  be  his  own,  or  that  he  applied 
on  behalf  of  a  friend.  He  went  im- 
mediately to  the  beach,  and  took  pos- 
session of  one  of  the  boats,  which, 
with  the  assistance  of  his  people,  he 


1769.] 


EXPLORATIONS  MADE  BY  MR  BAKES. 


47 


began  to  carry  off;  upon  this,  how- 
e.ver,  it  was  eagerly  claimed  by  the 
right  owners,  who,  supported  by  the 
other  Indians,  clamorously  reproached 
him  for  invading  their  property,  and 
prepared  to  take  the  canoe  from  him 
by  force.  Upon  this  he  desired  to  be 
heard,  and  told  them  that  the  canoe 
did  indeed  once  belong  to  those  who 
claimed  it ;  but  that  I,  having  seized 
it  as  a  forfeit,  had  sold  it  to  him  for 
a  pig.  This  silenced  the  clamour  ; 
the  owners,  knowing  that  from  my 
power  there  was  no  appeal,  acqui- 
esced ;  and  Potattow  would  have  car- 
ried off  his  prize  if  the  dispute  had 
not  fortunately  been  overheard  by 
some  of  our  people,  who  reported  it 
to  me.  I  gave  orders  immediately 
that  the  Indians  should  be  undeceived ; 
upon  which  the  right  owners  took 
possession  of  their  canoe,  and  Potat- 
tow was  so  conscious  of  his  guilt  that 
neither  he  nor  his  wife,  who  was  privy 
to  his  knavery,  could  look  us  in  the 
face  for  some  time  afterwards. 

On  the  3d,  Mr  Banks  set  out  early 
in  the  morning,  with  some  Indian 
guides,  to  trace  our  river  up  the 
Valley  from  which  it  issues,  and  ex- 
amine how  far  its  banks  were  inhab- 
ited. For  about  six  miles  they  met 
with  houses,  not  far  distant  from  each 
other,  on  each  side  of  the  river,  and 
the  .valley  was  everywhere  about  400 
yards  wide  from  the  foot  of  the  hill 
on  one  side  to  the  foot  of  that  on  the 
other.  But  they  were  now  shown  a 
house  which  they  were  told  was  the 
last  that  they  would  see.  When  they 
came  up  to  it,  the  master  of  it  offered 
them  refreshments  of  cocoa-nuts  and 
other  fruits,  of  which  they  accepted. 
After  a  short  stay,  they  walked  for- 
ward for  a  considerable  time.  In  bad 
way  it  is  not  easy  to  compute  dis- 
tances, but  they  imagined  that  they 
had  walked  about  six  miles  farther, 
following  the  course  of  the  river, 
when  they  frequently  passed  under 
vaults  formed  by  fragments  of  the 
rock,  in  which  they  were  told  people 
who  were  benighted  frequently  passed 
the  night.  Soon  after  they  found  the 
river  banked  by  steep  rocks,  from 
which  a  cascade  falling  with  great 


violence,  formed  a  pool  so  steep  that 
the  Indians  said  they  could  not  pass 
it.  They  seemed,  indeed,  not  much 
to  be  acquainted  with  the  valley  be- 
yond this  place,  their  business  lying 
chiefly  upon  the  declivity  of  the  rocks 
on  each  side,  and  the  plains  which 
extended  on  their  summits,  where 
they  found  plenty  of  wild  plantain, 
which  they  called  Vae.  The  way  up 
these  rocks  from  the  banks  of  the 
river  was  in  every  respect  dreadful ; 
the  sides  were  nearly  perpendicular, 
and  in  some  places  100  feet  high; 
they  were  also  rendered  exceeding 
slippery  by  the  water  of  innumerable 
springs  which  issued  from  the  fissures 
on  the  surface.  Yet  up  these  preci- 
pices a  way  was  to  be  traced  by  a 
succession  of  long  pieces  of  the  bark 
of  the  Hibiscus  tiliaccus,  which  served 
as  a  rope  for  the  climber  to  take  hold 
of,  and  assisted  him  in  scrambling 
from  one  ledge  to  another,  though 
upon  these  ledges  there  was  footing 
only  for  an  Indian  or  a  goat.  One  of 
these  ropes  was  nearly  thirty  feet  in 
length,  and  their  guides  offered  to 
assist  them  in  mounting  this  pass, 
but  recommended  another,  at  a  little 
distance  lower  down,  as  less  difficult 
and  dangerous.  They  took  a  view  of 
this  "better  way,"  but  found  it  so 
bad  that  they  did  not  choose  to  at- 
tempt it,  as  there  was  nothing  at  the 
top  to  reward  their  toil  and  hazard 
but  a  grove  of  the  wild  plantain  or 
Vae  tree,  which  they  had  often  seen 
before. 

During  this  excursion  Mr  Banks 
had  an  excellent  opportunity  to  ex- 
amine the  rocks,  which  were  almost 
everywhere  naked,  for  minerals;  but 
he  found  not  the  least  appearance  of 
any.  The  stones  everywhere,  like 
those  of  Madeira,  showed  manifest 
tokens  of  having  been  burned;  nor  is 
there  a  single  specimen  of  any  stone 
among  all  those  that  were  collected 
in  the  island  upon  which  there  are 
not  manifest  and  indubitable  marks 
of  fire,  except,  perhaps,  some  small 
pieces  of  the  hatchet-stone,  and  even 
of  that  other  fragments  were  collected 
which  were  burned  almost  to  a  pum- 
ice. Traces  of  fire  are  also  manifest 


43 


COOK'S  VOYAGES. 


(Toy.  I. 


in  the  very  clay  upon  the  hills ;  and 
it  may  therefore  not  unreasonably  be 
supposed  that  this  and  the  neighbour- 
ing islands  are  either  shattered  re- 
mains of  a  continent,  which  some 
have  supposed  to  be  necessary  in  this 
part  of  the  globe  to  preserve  an  equi- 
librium of  its  parts,  which  were  left 
behind  when  the  rest  sank  by  the 
mining  of  a  subterraneous  fire,  so  as 
to  give  a  passage  to  the  sea  over  it ; 
or  were  torn  from  rocks  which,  from 
the  creation  of  the  world,  had  been 
the  bed  of  the  sea,  and  thrown  up  in 
heaps  to  a  height  which  the  waters 
never  reach.  One  or  other  of  these 
suppositions  will  perhaps  be  thought 
the  more  probable,  as  the  water  does 
not  gradually  grow  shallow  as  the 
si  lore  is  approached,  and  the  islands 
are  almost  everywhere  surrounded  by 
reefs  which  appear  to  be  rude  and 
broken,  as  some  violent  concussion 
would  naturally  leave  the  solid  sub- 
stance of  the  earth. 

On  the  4th,  Mr  Banks  employed 
himself  in  planting  a  great  quantity 
of  the  seeds  of  water-melons,  oranges, 
lemons,  limes,  and  other  plants  and 
trees  which  he  had  collected  at  Rio 
de  Janeiro.  For  these  he.  prepared 
ground  on  each  side  of  the  fort,  with 
as  many  varieties  of  soil  as  he  could 
choose ;  and  there  is  little  doubt  that 
they  will  succeed.  He  also  gave 
liberally  of  these  seeds  to  the  Indians, 
and  planted  many  of  them  in  the 
woods.  Some  of  the  melon  seeds 
having  been  planted  soon  after  our 
arrival,  the  natives  showed  him  several 
of  the  plants,  which  appeared  to  be 
in  the  most  flourishing  condition,  and 
were  continually  asking  him  for  more. 

We  now  begin  to  prepare  for  our 
departure,  by  bending  the  sails  and 
performing  other  necessary  operations 
on  board  the  ship — our  water  being 
already  on  board,  and  the  provisions 
examined.  In  the  meantime  we  had 
another  visit  from  Oamo,  Oberea,  and 
their  son  and  daughter ;  the  Indians 
expressing  their  respect  by  uncovering 
the  upper  parts  of  their  body  as  they 
had  done  before.  The  daughter, 
whose  name  we  understand  to  be 
Toimata,  was  very  desirous  to  see  the 


fort,  but  her  father  would  by  no 
means  suffer  her  to  come  in.  Tearee, 
the  son  of  Waheatua,  the  sovereign 
of  Tiarrabou,  the  south-east  peninsula, 
was  also  with  us  at  this  time;  and 
we  received  intelligence  of  the  landing 
of  another  guest,  whose  company  was 
neither  expected  nor  desired.  This 
was  no  other  than  the  ingenious 
gentleman  who  contrived  to  steal  our 
quadrant.  We  were  told  that  he 
intended  to  try  his  fortune  again  in 
the  night ;  but  the  Indians  all  offered 
zealously  to  assist  us  against  him, 
desiring  that,  for  this  purpose,  they 
might  be  permitted  to  lie  in  the  fort. 
This  had  so  good  an  effect,  that  the 
thief  relinquished  his  enterprise  in 
despair. 

On  the  7th,  the  carpenters  were 
employed  in  taking  down  the  gates 
and  palisadoes  of  our  little  fortifica- 
tion, for  fire-wood  on  board  the  ship ; 
and  one  of  the  Indians  had  dexterity 
enough  to  steal  the  staple  and  hook 
upon  which  the  gate  turned.  He  was 
immediately  pursued,  and  after  a 
chase  of  six  miles,  he  appeared  to 
have  been  passed,  having  concealed 
himself  among  some  rushes  in  the 
brook.  The  rushes  were  searched, 
and  though  the  thief  had  escaped, 
a  scraper  was  found  which  had  been 
stolen  from  the  ship  some  time  before ; 
and  soon  after  our  old  friend  Tubourai ' 
Tamaide  brought  us  the  staple.  On 
the  8th  and  9th  we  continued  to  dis- 
mantle our  fort,  and  our  friends  still 
flocked  about  us ;  some,  I  believe, 
sorry  at  the  approach  of  our  departure, 
and  others  desirous  to  make  as  much 
as  they  could  of  us  while  we  stayed. 
We  were  in  hopes  that  we  should 
now  leave  the  island  without  giving 
or  receiving  any  other  offence,  but 
it  unfortunately  happened  otherwine. 
Two  foreign  seamen  having  been  out 
with  my  permission,  one  of  them  was 
robbed  of  his  knife,  and  endeavouring 
to  recover  it,  probably  with  circum- 
stances of  great  provocation,  the  In- 
dians attacked  him  and  dangerously 
wounded  him  with  a  stone ;  they 
wounded  his  companion  also  slightly 
on  the  head,  and  then  fled  into  the 
mountains.  As  I  should  feave  been 


1769.] 

sorry  to  take  any  further  notice  of 
the  affair,  I  was  not  displeased  that 
the  offenders  had  escaped ;  but  I  was 
immediately  involved  in  a  quarrel 
which  I  very  much  regretted,  and 
•which  yet  it  was  not  possible  to  avoid. 
In  the  middle  of  the  night  between 
the  8th  and  9th,  Clement  Webb  and 
Samuel  Gibson,  two  of  the  marines, 
both  young  men,  went  privately  from 
the  fort,  and  in  the  morning  were  not 
to  be  found.  As  public  notice  had 
been  given  that  all  hands  were  to  go 
on  board  on  the  next  day,  and  that 
the  ship  would  sail  on  the  morrow  of 
that  day  or  the  day  following,  I  be- 
gan to  fear  that  the  absentees  intended 
to  stay  behind.  I  knew  that  I  could 
take  no  effectual  steps  to  recover  them 
without  endangering  the  harmony  and 
goodwill  which  at  present  subsisted 
among  us,  and  therefore  determined 
to  wait  a  day  for  the  chance  of  their 
return.  On  Monday  morning  the 
10th,  the  marines,  to  my  great  con- 
cern, not  being  returned,  an  inquiry 
was  made  after  them  of  the  Indians, 
who  frankly  told  us  that  they  did 
not  intend  to  return,  and  had  taken 
refuge  in  the  mountains,  where  it  was 
impossible  for  our  people  to  find  them. 
They  were  then  requested  to  assist  in 
the  search,  and  after  some  delibera- 
tion, two  of  them  undertook  to  con- 
duct such  persons  as  I  should  think 
proper  to  send  after  them  to  the  place 
of  their  retreat.  As  they  were  known 
to  be  without  arms,  I  thought  two 
would  be  sufficient,  and  accordingly 
despatched  a  petty  officer  a.nd  a  cor- 
poral of  marines,  with  the  Indian 
guides,  to  fetch  them  back.  As  the 
recovery  of  these  men  was  a  matter 
of  great  importance,  as  I  had  no  time 
to  lose,  and  as  the  Indian?  spoke 
doubtfully  of  their  return — teUing  us 
that  they  had  each  of  them  taken  a 
wife,  and  were  become  inhabitants  of 
the  country, — it  was  intimated  to 
several  of  the  chiefs  who  were  in  the 
fort  with  their  women,  among  whom 
were  Tubourai  Tamaide,  Tomia,  and 
Qberea,  that  they  would  not  be  per- 
mitted to  leave  it  till  our  deserters 
were  brought  back.  This  precaution 
I  thought  the  more  necessary,  as,  by 


DESERTION  OF  TWO  MARINES. 


49 


concealing  them  a  few  days,  they 
might  compel  me  to  go  without  them  ; 
and  I  had  the  pleasure  to  observe  that 
they  received  the  intimation  with  very 
little  signs  either  of  fear  or  discontent, 
assuring  me  that  my  people  should 
be  secured  and  sent  back  as  soon  as 
possible.  While  this  was  doing  at 
the  fort,  I  sent  Mr  Hicks  in  the  pin- 
nace to  fetch  Tootahah  on  board  the 
ship  ;  which  he  did,  without  alarming 
either  him  or  his  people.  If  the  In- 
dian guides  proved  faithful  and  in 
earnest,  I  had  reason  to  expect  the 
return  of  my  people  with  the  deserters 
before  evening.  Being  disappointed, 
my  suspicions  increased  ;  and  night 
coming  on,  I  thought  I  was  not  safe 
to  let  the  people  whom  I  had  detained 
as  hostages  continue  at  the  fort,  and 
I  therefore  ordered  Tubourai  Tamaide, 
Oberea,  and  some  others,  to  be  taken 
on  board  the  ship.  This  spread  a 
general  alarm,  and  several  of  them, 
especially  the  women,  expressed  theii 
apprehensions  with  great  emotion  and 
many  tears  when  they  were  put  into 
the  boat.  I  went  on  board  with  them, 
and  Mr  Banks  remained  on  shore, 
with  some  others  whom  I  thought  it 
of  less  consequence  to  secure. 

About  9  o'clock  Webb  was  brought 
back  by  some  of  the  natives,  who 
declared  that  Gibson  and  the  petty 
officer  and  corporal  would  be  detained 
till  Tootahah  should  be  set  at  liberty. 
The  tables  were  now  turned  upon  me, 
but  I  had  proceeded  too  far  to  retreat. 
I  immediately  despatched  Mr  Hicks 
in  the  long-boat  with  a  strong  party 
of  men,  to  rescue  the  prisoners,  and 
told  Tootahah  that  it  behoved  him  to 
send  some  of  his  people  with  them, 
with  orders  to  afford  them  effectual 
assistance,  and  to  demand  the  release 
of  my  men  in  his  name,  for  that  I 
should  expect  him  to  answer  for  the 
contrary.  He  readily  complied ;  this 
party  recovered  my  men  without  the 
least  opposition,  and,  about  7  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  returned  with  them 
to  the  ship,  though  they  had  not  been 
able  to  recover  the  arms  which  had 
been  taken  from  them  when  they  were 
seized.  These,  however,  were  brought 
on  board  in  less  than  half-an-hour, 
D 


50 


COOK'S  VOYAGES. 


[YOT.I, 


and  the  cbiefs  were  immediately  set 
at  liberty. 

When  I  questioned  the  petty  officer 
concerning  what  had  happened  on 
shore,  he  told  me  that  neither  the 
natives  who  went  with  them,  nor 
those  whom  they  met  in  their  way, 
would  give  them  any  intelligence  of 
the  deserters,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
became  very  troublesome ;  that,  as 
he  was  returning  for  further  orders  to 
the  ship,  he  and  his  comrade  were 
suddenly  seized  by  a  number  of  armed, 
men,  who,  having  learned  that  Toota- 
hah  was  confined,  had  concealed  them- 
selves in  a  wood  for  that  purpose,  and 
who  having  taken  them  at  a  disad- 
vantage, forced  their  weapons  out  of 
their  hands,  and  declared  that  they 
would  detain  them  till  their  chief 
should  be  set  at  liberty.  He  said, 
however,  that  the  Indians  were  not 
unanimous  in  this  measure ;  that 
some  were  for  setting  them  at  liberty, 
and  others  for  detaining  them  ;  that 
an  eager  dispute  ensued,  and  from 
words  they  came  to  blows,  but  the 
party  for  detaining  them  at  length 
prevailed ;  that  soon  after  Webb  and 
Gibson  were  brought  in  by  a  party  of 
the  natives  as  prisoners,  that  they 
also  might  be  secured  as  hostages  for 
the  chief;  but  that  it  was  after  some 
debate  resolved,  to  send  Webb  to  in- 
form me  of  their  resolution,  to  assure 
me  that  his  companions  were  safe, 
and  direct  me  where  I  might  send  my 
answer.  Thus  it  appears  that,  what- 
ever were  the  disadvantages  of  seizing 
the  chiefs,  I  should  never  have  re- 
covered my  men  by  any  other  method. 
When  the  chiefs  were  set  on  shore 
from  the  ship,  those  at  the  fort  were 
also  set  at  liberty,  and,  after  staying 
with  Mr  Banks  about  an  hour,  they 
all  went  away.  Upon  this  occasion, 
as  they  had  done  upon  another  of  the 
same  kind,  they  expressed  their  joy 
by  an  undeserved  liberality,  strongly 
urging  us  to  accept  of  four  hogs. 
These  we  absolutely  refused  as  a  pre- 
sent, and  they  as  absolutely  refusing 
to  be  paid  for  them,  the  hogs  did  not 
change  masters.  Upon  examining 
the  deserters,  we  found  that  the  ac- 
count which  the  Indians  had  given 


of  them  was  true, — they  had  strongly 
attached  themselves  to  two  girls,  and 
it  was  their  intention  to  conceal  them- 
selves till  the  ship  had  sailed,  and 
take  up  their  residence  upon  the 
island.  This  night  everything  was 
got  off  from  the  shore,  and  everybody 
slept  on  board._ 

Among  the  natives  who  were  almost 
constantly  with  us,  was  Tupia,  whose 
name  has  been  often  mentioned  in  this 
narrative.  He  had  been,  as  I  have 
before  observed,  the  first  minister  of 
Oberea,  when  she  was  in  the  height 
of  her  power.  He  was  also  the  chief 
tahowa  or  priest  of  the  island,  conse- 
quently well  acquainted  with  the  reli- 
gion of  the  country,  as  well  with  respect 
to  its  ceremonies  as  principles.  He 
had  also  great  experience  and  know- 
ledge in  navigation,  and  was  particu- 
larly acquainted  with  the  number  and 
situation  of  the  neighbouring  islands. 
This  man  had  often  expressed  a  de- 
sire to  go  with  us,  and  on  the  12th,  in 
the  morning,  having,  with  the  other 
natives,  le(t  us  the  day  before,  he 
came  on  board  with  a  boy  about 
thirteen  years  of  age,  his  servant,  and 
urged  us  to  let  him  proceed  with  us 
on  our  voyage.  To  have  such  a  per- 
son on  board  was  certainly  desirable 
for  many  reasons  ;  by  learning  his 
language,  and  teaching  him  ours,  we 
should  be  able  to  acquire  a  much 
better  knowledge  of  the  customs, 
policy,  and  religion  of  the  people, 
than  our  short  stay  among  them  could 
give  us  :  I  therefore  gladly  agreed  to 
receive  them  on  board.  As  we  were 
prevented  from  sailing  to-day,  by 
having  found  it  necessary  to  make 
new  stocks  to  our  small  and  best 
bower  anchors,  the  old  ones  having 
been  totally  destroyed  by  the  worms, 
Tupia  said  he  would  go  once  more  on 
shore,  and  make  a  signal  for  the  boat 
to  fetch  him  off  in  the  evening.  He 
went  accordingly,  and  took  with  him 
a  miniature  picture  of  Mr  Banks's  to 
show  his  friends,  and  several  little 
things  to  give  them  as  parting  pre- 
sents. 

After  dinner,  Mr  Banks,  being  de- 
sirous to  procure  a  drawing  of  the 
Monti  belonging  to  Tootahah  at 


1769.]         PREPARATIONS  FOR  LEAVING  THE  ISLAND. 


Eparre,  I  attended  him  thither,  ac- 
companied by  Dr  Solander,  in  the 
pinnace.  As  soon  as  we  landed, 
many  of  our  friends  came  to  meet  us, 
though  some  absented  themselves  in 
resentment  of  what  had  happened  the 
day  before.  We  immediately  pro- 
ceeded to  Tootahah's  house,  where  we 
were  joined  by  Oberea,  with  several 
others  who  had  not  come  out  to  meet 
us,  and  a  perfect  reconciliation  was 
soon  brought  about ;  in  consequence 
of  which  they  promised  to  visit  us 
early  the  next  day,  to  take  a  last 
farewell  of  us,  as  we  told  them  we 
should  certainly  set  sail  in  the  after- 
noon. At  this  place,  also,  we  found 
Tupia,  who  returned  with  us,  and 
slept  this  night  on  board  the  ship  for 
the  tirst  time. 

On  the  next  morning,  Thursday  the 
13th  of  July,  the  ship  was  very  early 
crowded  with  our  friends,  and  sur- 
rounded by  a  multitude  of  canoes, 
which  were  filled  with  the  natives  of 
an  inferior  class.  Between  eleven 
and  twelve  we  weighed  anchor,  and 
as  soon  as  the  ship  was  under  sail, 
the  Indians  on  board  took  their  leaves, 
and  wept,  with  a  decent  and  silent 
sorrow,  in  which  there  was  something 
very  striking  and  tender.  The  people 
in  the  canoes,  on  the  contrary,  seemed 
to  vie  with  each  other  in  the  loudness 
of  their  lamentations,  which  we  con- 
sidered rather  as  affectation  than  grief. 
Tupia  sustained  himself  in  this  scene 
with  a  firmness  and  resolution  truly 
admirable.  He  wept,  indeed,  but  the 
effort  that  he  made  to  conceal  his  tears 
concurred  with  them  to  do  him  hon- 
our. He  sent  his  last  present,  a  shirt, 
by  Otheothea,  to  Potomia,  Tootahah's 
favourite  mistress,  and  then  went 
with  Mr  Banks  to  the  masthead, 
Waving  to  the  canoes  as  long  as  they 
continued  in  sight. 

Thus  we  took  leave  of  Otaheite  and 
its  inhabitants,  after  a  stay  of  just 
three  months.  For  much  the  greater 
part  of  the  time  we  lived  together  in 
the  most  cordial  friendship,  and  a 
perpetual  reciprocation  of  good  offices. 
The  accidental  diflere'nces  which  now 
and  then  happened  coui^not  be  more 
sincerely  regretted  on  their  part,  than 


51 

they  were  on  ours.  The  pimcipal 
causes  were  such  as  necessarily  re- 
sulted from  our  situation  and  cir- 
cumstances, in  conjunction  with  the 
infirmities  of  human  nature  ;  from  our 
not  being  able  perfectly  to  understand 
each  other  ;  and  from  the  disposition 
of  the  inhabitants  to  theft,  which  we 
could  not  all  times  bear  with  or  pre- 
vent. They  had  not,  however,  ex- 
cept in  one  instance,  been  attended 
with  any  fatal  consequence  ;  and  to 
that  accident  were  owing  the  measures 
I  took  to  prevent  others  of  the  same 
kind.  I  hoped  indeed  to  have  availed 
myself  of  the  impression  which  had 
been  made  upon  them  by  the  lives 
sacrificed  in  their  contest  with  the 
Dolphin,  so  as  that  the  intercourse 
between  us  should  have  been  carried 
on  wholly  without  bloodshed  ;  by  this 
hope  all  my  measures  were  directed 
during  the  whole  of  my  continuance 
at  the  island  ;  and  I  sincerely  wish 
that  whoever  shall  next  visit  it  may 
be  still  more  fortunate.  Our  traffic 
here  was  carried  on  with  as  much 
order  as  in  the  best  regulated  market 
in  Europe.  It  was  managed  princi- 
pally by  Mr  Banks,  who  was  inde- 
fatigable in  procuring  provision  and 
refreshments  while  they  were  to  be 
had  ;  but  during  the  latter  part  of 
our  time  they  became  scarce,  partly 
by  the  increased  consumption  at  the 
fort  and  ship,  and  partly  by  the 
coming  on  of  the  season  in  which 
cocoa-nuts  and  bread-fruit  fail.  All 
kinds  of  fruit  we  purchased  for  beads 
and  nails,  but  no  nails  less  than 
forty-penny  were  current.  After  a 
very  short  time  we  could  never  get  a 
pig  of  more  than  ten  or  twelve  pounds 
for  less  than  a  hatchet  ;  because, 
though  these  people  set  a  high  value 
upon  spike-nails,  yet,  these  being  an 
article  with  which  many  people  in 
the  ship  were  provided,  the  women 
found  a  much  more  easy  way  of  pro- 
curing them  than  by  bringing  down 
provisions.  The  best  articles  for 
traffic  here  are  axes,  hatchets,  spikes, 
large  nails,  looking-glasses,  knives, 
and  beads,  for  some  of  which,  every- 
thing that  the  natives  have  may 
be  procured.  They  are,  indeed,  fond 


COOK'S  VOYAGES. 


[VOY.  I. 


of  fine  linen  cloth,  both  white  and 
printed  ;  but  an  axe  worth  half-a- 
crown  will  fetch  more  than  a  piece  of 
cloth  worth  twenty  shillings. 

[Although  the  account  in  the 
Cabinet  Cyclopaedia  of  Cook's  stay  at 
Otaheite  has  been  in  great  measure 
anticipated,  some  particulars  there  go 
beyond  what  Dr  Hawkesworth  him- 
self relates,  founding  his  narrative  on 
the  observations  and  memoranda  of 
the  distinguished  navigator.] 

"The  mild  and  judicious  conduct 
of  Cook  completely  won  the  confid- 
ence of  the  Otaheitans,  and  enabled 
him  to  form  a  more  accurate  opinion 
of  their  character  than  the  voyagers 
who  had  previously  visited  their  island. 
They  were  remarkably  friendly  and 
affectionate,  and  indeed  their  attach- 
ments alone  seemed  exempted  from 
the  characteristic  levity  which  pre- 
vented them  from  fixing  their  atten- 
tion on  the  same  object  for  any  length 
of  time.  They  are  a  handsome  people, 
finely  made,  and  with  open  vivacious 
3ountenances  ;  their  ingenuity  was 
in  nothing  more  conspicuous  than  in 
the  fine  cloth,  or  rather  paper,  which 
they  made  of  the  inner  bark  of  a  tree. 
The  garments  of  this  material,  which 
they  wore,  were  becoming  and  even 
elegant,  and  were  arranged  by  the 
women  so  as  to  produce  an  effect  little 
short  of  the  classic  draperies  of  anti- 
quity. Their  houses  were  little  more 
than  sheds,  erected  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  the  trees  under  which  they 
reclined  and  took  their  meals  during 
the  day.  These  habitations  stood 
very  thick  in  the  groves  which  cover 
the  low  margin  of  the  island.  High 
mountains  rose  behind,  and  a  number 
of  small  streams  stole  down  the  de- 
clivities to  the  sea-shore  ;  the  whole 
presenting,  from  a  distance,  a  most 
enchanting  picture. 

"  It  was  conjectured  by  M.  de  Bou- 
gainville that  the  inhabitants  of 
Otaheite  were  composed  of  two  differ- 
ent races,  and  that  one  of  these  was 
in  a  servile  condition.  Cook  also 
notices  the  superiority  of  the  chiefs 
in  figure  and  appearance,  but  does 
Dot  venture  to  ascribe  this  difference 


to  any  circumstances  of  origin  or 
descent.  He  does  not  seem  to  have 
observed  the  power  which  the  chiefs 
usually  exercised  over  their  retainers, 
and  which  the  French  navigator,  with 
perhaps  too  little  reason,  seems  to  have 
considered  as  absolutely  despotic. 
But  the  king,  it  was  evident,  though 
treated  with  respect  by  all,  possessed 
no  power  but  what  was  derived  from 
the  voluntary  attachment  of  the  chiefs, 
whose  obedience  or  support  in  every 
enterprise  could  be  secured  only  by 
consulting  them.  The  rule  of  suc- 
cession among  these  islanders  is  singu- 
lar in  the  extreme.  The  son,  as  soon 
as  he  is  born,  succeeds  to  the  autho- 
rity of  his  father,  who  at  once  becomes 
only  a  regent  instead  of  a  king,  if  he 
be  fitted  for  that  office.  Associations 
of  a  licentious  character  existed  among 
the  chief  persons  in  these  islands,  and 
among  other  bad  effects,  tended  to 
encourage  the  crime  of  infanticide  ;  a 
crime  to  which  the  law  of  inheritance 
just  mentioned  may  have  held  out 
some  inducement,  as  the  ambition  of 
the  parent  was  at  once  blighted  by  tlw 
birth  of  a  son. 

"At  the  time  of  Cook's  visit,  the 
sovereignty  had  devolved  on  a  boy 
only  seven  years  old,  the  son  of  Oamo 
and  Oberea,  the  latter  of  whom  had 
figured  so  conspicuously  in  Captain 
Wallis's  narrative  as  queen  of  the 
island.  She  lived  separate  from  her 
husband,  and  though  still  treated  as 
a  noble,  no  longer  enjoyed  the  same 
degree  of  power  and  consideration 
which  had  rendered  her  friendship  so 
valuable  to  the  commander  of  the 
Dolphin.  As  a  further  proof  of  the 
progress  made  by  these  islanders  to- 
wards civilisation,  it  deserves  to  be 
remarked,  that  their  women  were  not 
condemned  to  labour,  as  is  usually 
the  case  amongst  rude  nations.  They 
had,  indeed,  abundance  of  domestic 
occupation,  in  making  and  dyeing 
their  cloth,  preparing  the  meals,  ana 
similar  offices  ;  but  though  they  were 
not  permitted  to  eat  with  the  men, 
they  were  in  general  treated  with 
respect  and  attention. 

"When  M.  de  Bougainville  am  ved 
here,  he  found  the  islanders  already 


1769.]  TUPIA.  53 

acquainted  with  the  use  of  iron,  which  I  coins  and  medals,  and  a  pewter  plite 
they  called  'aouri,'  a  name  which  he    with  an  inscription,  as  a  memorial  of 

his  visit  to  this  part  of  the  world. 


supposed  them  to  have  learned  from 
the  English  who  had  preceded  him  ; 
but  Captain  AVallis  observed  that  they 
were  not  wholly  ignorant  of  that  metal 
in  his  time,  though  he  does  not  men- 
tion by  what  name  they  called  it ;  for 
as  soon  as  they  were  presented  with 
iron  nails,  they  began  to  sharpen 
them,  while  they  took  no  such  pains 
with  pieces  of  brass  and  copper.  Cook 
circumnavigated  and  surveyed  the 
coasts  of  Otaheite,  which  he  found  to 
have  a  circumference  of  about  thirty 
leagues ;  and  after  a  stay  of  about 
three  months  he  prepared  to  depart. 
In  leaving  the  affectionate  islanders, 
he  remarks,  *  that,  allowing  for  their 
theft,  they  need  not  fear  a  comparison 
with  any  people  on  earth. '  A  native 
named  Tupia,  one  of  Oberea's  minis- 
ters, and  well  instructed  in  all  the 
learning  of  his  countrymen,  offered 
to  accompany  the  English,  and  the 
proposal  was  readily  accepted.  The 
Otaheitans,  it  appeared,  sometimes 
ventured  200  or  300  miles  through 
the  ocean  in  their  open  canoes  ;  and 
Tupia  had  a  vague  knowledge  of  above 
eighty  islands,  the  position  of  many 
of  which  he  attempted  to  describe. 
He  was  well  icquainted  with  the 
heavens  ;  and,  in  every  part  of  the 
subsequent  voyage  in  the  Endeavour, 
he  was  enabled  to  point  out  the  direc- 
tion of  his  native  island. 

"  On  leaving  Otaheite,  Cook  visited 
the  neighbouring  islands  of  Ulietea, 
Borabora,  Otahah,  Huaheine,  and 
Raiataia.  Tupia  related,  that  in  the 
time  of  his  grandfather  a  friendly 
ship  had  called  at  the  last  named 
island,  and  he  also  stated  that  a  ship 
had  been  wrecked  on  a  low  island 
called  Oanna.  These  ships  were  pro- 
bably those  of  Admiral  Roggewein's 
squadron,  and  Oanna  may  have  been 
the  Schadelyk  or  Pernicious  Island 
of  that  navigator.  At  Huaheine, 
Cook  contracted  a  friendship  with 
Oree,  the  old  chief  of  the  island,  from 
whom  he  experienced  unremitting 
kindness,  and  to  whom,  at  his  depar- 
ture, he  gave,  along  with  some  valu- 
able presents,  a  small  bag  containing 


These  gifts  the  old  chief  promised  to 
keep  in  safety.  The  people  of  Bora- 
bora  had  invaded  some  of  the  islands 
in  the  neighbourhood,  and  with  such 
success  that  they  were  looked  upon 
as  invincible,  and  were  become  ob- 
jects of  dread  to  the  simple  islanders.- 
Tupia  was  anxious  that  the  English 
should  terrify  those  haughty  con- 
querors, and  exhibit  their  superiority 
by  firing  great  guns  at  Borabora ;  and 
at  length,  to  calm  his  importunity,  a 
ball  was  fired  towards  the  island  when 
the  ship  was  at  least  seven  leagues 
distant  from  the  shore.  To  the  group 
of  islands  which  Cook  now  quitted, 
he  gave  the  collective  name  of  the 
Society  Islands. 

"  After  sailing  four  days  to  the  west 
and  south-west,  an  island  was  dis- 
covered to  whicli  Tupia  gave  the  name 
of  Oheteroa.  The  natives  crowded 
on  the  shore  to  resist  the  landing  of 
the  strangers.  They  were  a  hand- 
some, vigorous  people,  and  seemed 
far  to  excel  the  natives  of  the  Society 
Islands  in  the  beauty  of  their  dress. 
The  cloth  was  dyed  in  various  pat- 
terns, and  of  several  colours,  though 
bright  yellow  seemed  to  predominate. 
Their  robes  being  collected  round  their 
waist  by  a  belt  of  red  cloth,  gave 
them  a  gay  and  warlike  appearance. 
Some  had  caps  made  of  the  feathers 
of  the  tropic  bird,  while  others  wore 
small  turbans  of  a  very  elegant  ap- 
pearance. Their  canoes  were  well 
constructed,  and,  as  well  as  the  jave- 
lins, were  carved  in  a  manner  highly 
creditable  to  their  taste  and  ingenuity. 
But  no  anchorage  could  be  found  near 
the  island ;  and  as  the  natives  seemed 
bent  on  hostility,  our  navigators  gave 
up  all  thoughts  of  cultivating  an  ac- 
quaintance witu  them,  and  pursued 
their  voyage. 

"  On  the  15th  of  August  they  .sailed 
from  Oheteroa,  and  in  the  beginning 
of  October  perceived,  in  the  colour  of 
the  sea,  in  the  weeds  with  which  it 
was  covered,  and  the  birds  which  flew 
around  them,  unequivocal  signs  of 
the  proximity  of  laud.  At  length, 


54 


COOK'S  VOYAGES. 


[VoT.L 


on  the  6th  of  that  month,  land  was 
distinctly  seen  stretching  to  a  great 
extent  in  the  horizon  ;  several  ranges 
of  hills  were  distinguished  rising  one 
&bove  another,  and  a  chain  of  moun- 
tains of  an  enormous  height  termi- 
nated the  picture  in  the  rear.  The 
general  opinion  was,  that  they  had 
discovered  the  'Terra  Australia  In- 
cognita,' but  it  was  soon  perceived 
that  this  must  be  a  part  of  New  Zea- 
land or  Staaten  Land,  discovered  by 
Abel  Tasman  in  1642.  A  party  who 
went  on  shore  in  order  to  open  an 
intercourse  with  the  natives  met  with 
no  success.  They  were  fierce,  and 
obstinately  hostile ;  but  it  was  dis- 
covered, to  the  surprise  and  pleasure 
of  our  navigators,  that  when  Tupia 
spoke  to  them  in  his  native  language, 
he  was  perfectly  understood.  In  a 
quarrel  which  ensued,  one  of  them 
was  killed,  and  his  dress  appeared, 
on  examination,  to  correspond  exactly 
with  the  drawing  appended  to  Tas- 
man's  voyage.  As  it  was  found  im- 
possible to  commence  an  amicable 
correspondence  with  them  by  gentle 
means,  it  was  determined  to  resort  to 
force,  and,  according  to  the  method 
followed  by  the  first  Spanish  navi- 
gators, to  capture  the  Indians  first, 
in  order  to  have  an  opportunity  of 
treating  them  with  kindness.  This 
plan  of  proceeding  can  hardly  be  jus- 
tified iipon  principles  of  reason  or 
morality,  and  it  has  never  been  at- 
tended with  such  unequivocal  success 
as  to  palliate  its  demerits.  Two 
canoes  were  seen  entering  the  bay, 
and  the  ship's  boats  proceeded  imme- 
diately to  intercept  them  ;  in  one, 
the  natives  escaped  by  paddling  ;  but 
those  in  the  other,  which  was  a  sailing 
canoe,  finding  it  impossible  to  get  oft', 
boldly  prepared  for  battle.  Of  seven 
Indians  who  were  in  the  canoe,  four 
were  killed  on  the  first  discharge  of 
musketry,  and  the  other  three,  who 
were  all  young,  immediately  jumped 
overboard,  and  attempted  to  save 
themselves  by  swimming ;  they  were, 
however,  overtaken  and  picked  up  by 
the  boat,  though  not  without  some 
difficulty.  They  expected  to  be  put 
to  death  at  once  ;  but  as  the  studious 


kindness  with  which  they  were  treated 
soon  convinced  them  of  their  error, 
their  consternation  gave  way  to  trans- 
ports of  joy.  They  conversed  freely 
with  Tupia;  and  after  having  been 
kept  a  day  on  board  the  ship,  were 
again  sent  ashore. 

"  The  account  which  the  boys  gave 
to  their  countrymen  of  their  treat- 
ment on  board  the  ship  led  to  a  cor- 
respondence, which  did  not,  however, 
bear  the  appearance  of  confirmed 
friendship.  The  New  Zealanders  still 
maintained  a  fierce  and  independent 
carriage,  and  acted  so  little  in  con- 
cert, that  the  behaviour  of  different 
individuals  was  often  of  a  totally  op- 
posite character ;  but  their  distrust 
could  not  be  generally  overcome,  nor 
an  intercourse  established  which  was 
likely  to  prove  safe  and  advantageous. 
An  attempt  was  made  by  them  to 
carry  off  Tayeto,  Tupia's  boy,  and 
they  nearly  succeeded  ;  but  gxms  be- 
ing fired  at  the  canoe  as  it  paddled 
off,  the  natives,  in  a  moment  of  fear, 
let  go  their  hold,  and  the  boy  leaped 
into  the  water.  The  New  Zealanders 
made  great  exertions  to  secure  their 
prize,  but  the  ship's  boats  finally  suc- 
ceeded in  picking  up  the  youth,  whose 
terror  at  the  violent  conduct  of  these 
savages  was  increased  by  the  convic- 
tion which  our  navigators  had  ob- 
tained, that  they  were  cannibals,  and 
even  that  they  regarded  human  flesh 
as  a  dainty. 

*'  This  bay,  in  which  no  provisions 
could  be  procured,  was  named  Poverty 
Bay ;  and  our  voyagers,  on  leaving  it, 
proceeded  along  the  coast  towards  the 
north.  They  gave  the  name  of  Mer- 
cury Bay  to  the  inlet  in  which  they 
anchored  while  observing  a  transit  of 
that  planet  over  the  sun.  They  were 
surprised  to  find  that  the  natives, 
notwithstanding  their  ferocity,  were 
not  unacquainted  with  the  art  of  cul- 
tivating the  ground.  They  had  gar- 
dens, in  which  they  reared  gourds  and 
several  kinds  of  fruits.  A  decked 
canoe  also  was  found  on  this  shore, 
which  indicated  their  proficiency  in 
maritime  affairs.  Their  '  heppahs '  or 
hamlets  were  forts  neatly  constructed 
on  elevated  situations,  defended  by 


1769.] 


EXPLORATIONS  ON  NEW  ZEALAND  COAST. 


lines  and  trenches,  and  accessible 'only 
by  a  steep  and  narrow  entrance.  They 
had  no  knowledge  of  iron  when  our 
voyagers  first  touched  here,  although 
iron  sand  was  found  in  the  beds  of 
several  streams.  The  women  were 
thickly  painted  with  oil  and  red  ochre, 
and  the  men  were  tattooed  after  the 
usual  fashion  of  the  South  Seas.  They 
were  strong  and  active,  not  deficient 
in  intelligence,  or  in  sentiments  of 
generosity,  notwithstanding  the  cruel- 
ty of  disposition  engendered  by  their 
habits  of  continual  warfare.  Tupia 
conversed  much  with  their  priests  ; 
and  from  the  superiority  of  his  know- 
ledge and  the  variety  of  his  supersti- 
tious lore,  he  was  regarded  by  them 
with  peculiar  respect  and  veneration. 

"  In  prosecuting  his  examination 
of  the  coast  towards  the  north,  Cook 
entered  a  deep  inlet  terminating  in  a 
large  river,  which  he  explored  to  the 
distance  of  fourteen  miles  ;  from  the 
magnitude  of  this  river,  and  the  gene- 
ral appearance  of  the  country  round 
it,  he  named  it  the  Thames.  The 
timber  which  grew  here  was  of  enor- 
mous size,  trees  being  seen  nearly 
twenty  feet  in  girth  six  feet  from  the 
ground,  and  above  eighty  feet  in 
height  to  the  branches. 

"  Having  finished  the  examination 
of  the  north-western  shore  of  New 
Zealand,  Cook  experienced  such  severe 
gales,  though  it  was  now  midsummer 
in  these  latitudes,  that  in  five  weeks 
he  did  not  advance  above  fifty  leagues 
in  his  course  along  the  western  shore. 
He  at  length  reached  a  secure  and 
capacious  harbour,  which  he  named 
Queen  Charlotte's  Sound.  The  country 
was  here  taken  possession  of,  and  the 
sound  carefully  surveyed.  Wood, 
water,  and  fish  were  in  the  greatest 
abundance,  the  natives  friendly,  and 
plants  of  an  anti-scorbutic  quality 
were  gathered  on  the  shore,  which  soon 
restored  the  crew  to  perfect  health. 
Here  our  voyagers  were  particularly 
struck  with  the  exquisite  warbling  of 
the  birds,  which,  like  our  nightin- 
gales, sing  only  during  the  night. 

' '  On  ascending  a  heightin  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  the  sound,  Cook  was  sur- 


south-east,  and  thus  found  that  the 
land,  the  continuity  of  which  he  had 
not  before  suspected,  was  divided  by 
a  strait.  Passing  through  this  strait, 
to  which  geographers  have  unani- 
mously given  the  name  of  its  dis- 
coverer, he  directed  his  course  towards 
the  north  till  he  arrived  near  the 
point  where  his  examination  of  this 
country  had  commenced.  He  then 
resumed  his  course  to  the  south-east, 
and  followed  the  coast  of  the  south- 
ernmost of  the  two  islands  comprised 
under  the  name  of  New  Zealand,  re- 
turning again  from  the  south  to  Queen 
Charlotte's  Sound.  The  southern 
island,  or,  as  the  natives  call  it,-Tavai 
Poenammoo,  is  a  rugged  country,  with 
mountains  of  prodigious  height,  and 
covered  with  snow  the  greater  part 
of  the  year.  The  inhabitants  also, 
though  not  more  fierce,  are  ruder  thai, 
their  northern  neighbours.  They  dif 
fer  likewise  in  dialect  from  the  inha 
bitants  of  Eaheinomauwe,  as  the  nor- 
thern island  is  called,  where,  as  the 
climate  is  more  genial  and  the  soil 
more  luxuriant,  the  population  is  con  • 
siderably  greater,  and  the  arts  as  we]  i 
as  the  institutions  of  rude  society  much 
more  advanced. 

"  Of  the  natives  of  New  Zealand 
Cook  entertained  a  highly  favourable 
opinion,  notwithstanding  their  canni- 
balism, of  which  he  saw  numerous  in- 
contestable proofs.  He  could  not  col 
lect  from  them  any  tradition  respecting 
the  arrival  of  Tasman  on  their  shores , 
but  they  heard  of  a  country  called 
Ulimaroa,  situated  NW.  by  W.,  where 
the  people  ate  hogs,  and  whence  sorno 
canoes  seemed  to  have  accidently  ar 
rived  in  their  country.  The  circum- 
navigation of  New  Zealand  was  th<- 
first  grand  discovery  of  Cook.  Wher 
Tasman  touched  on  that  country,  he- 
imagined  it  to  be  a  part  of  the  greal 
Terra  Australia,  or  continent  supposed 
to  extend  to  the  South  Pole.  Oui 
navigator  was  satisfied  with  having 
disproved  this  supposition  ;  and  as 
the  lateness  of  the  season  would  not 
permit  him  to  continue  his  researches 
in  higher  latitudes,  he  determined  to 
lirect  his  course  to  the  eastern  coast 


prised  on  descrying  the  sea  to  the  j  of  New  Holland,   respecting  which 


56 


COOK'S  VOYAGES. 


[VOY.I. 


the  learned  world  was  still  in  total 
ignorance. 

"  He  took  leave  of  New  Zealand  on 
the  31st  of  March  1770,  and  in  twenty 
days  discovered  the  coast  of  New  Hol- 
land, at  no  great  distance  from  the 
point  where  the  survey  of  Tasman  had 
terminated.  In  proceeding  to  the 
north,  an  inlet  was  entered,  in  which 
the  ship  rode  securely  for  some  days. 
Inhabitants  were  seen,  but,  from  their 
shyness  and  timidity,  they  could  not 
be  induced  to  approach  the  strangers ; 
they  seemed  to  be  sunk  in  that  brutal 
condition  which  is  insensible  even  to 
the  promptings  of  curiosity.  From 
the  variety  of  new  plants  collected, 
here  by  the  naturalists  of  the  expedi- 
tion, this  inlet  received  the  name  of 
Batany  Bay.  No  rivers  were  dis- 
covered by  Cook  in  his  voyage  along 
this  coast,  which  has  since  been  found 
abundantly  supplied  with  fine  streams. 
The  natives,  wherever  they  were  seen, 
manifested  the  same  repugnance  to 
the  strangers,  and  the  same  indiffer- 
ence to  the  trinkets  presented  to 
them.  Towards  the  north  the  country 
grew  more  hilly,  and  the  navigation 
of  the  coast  became  more  dangerous 
and  intricate. 

"  No  accident  had  yet  occurred  in 
a  voyage  of  2000  miles  along  a  coast 
hitherto  unexplored  ;  but  in  Lat.  16° 
S.,  a  high  headland  being  in  sight, 
which  from  th*e  circumstance  was 
afterwards  named  Cape  Tribulation, 
the  ship  during  the  night  struck  on 
some  coral  rocks  with  so  much  force 
that  there  seemed  imminent  danger 
of  her  going  to  pieces.  The  planks 
which  formed  her  sheathing  were  seen 
floating  off,  and  the  water  rushed  in 
with  such  impetuosity  that,  though 
all  the  pumps  were  manned,  the  leak 
could  hardly  be  kept  under.  As  day 
broke,  land  was  descried  eight  leagues 
distant,  without  an  island  between  to 
which  the  boats  might  convey  the 
crew  in  case  of  the  ship's  foundering. 
The  guns  and  all  the  stores  that  could 
be  spared  were  thrown  overboard,  and 
preparations  were  made  to  heave  the 
ship  off  the  rocks,  although  it  was 
thought  probable  that  she  would  sink 
coon  after.  On  the  following  night, 


however,  she  was  got  afloat,  and,  to 
the  surprise  of  all,  it  was  found  that 
the  leakage  did  not  increase.  By  con- 
stant exertion  and  cool  perseverance 
the  ship  was  navigated  to  a  small 
harbour  opportunely  discovered  on 
the  coast — the  only  harbour,  indeed, 
seen  by  our  people  during  the  whole 
voyage,  which  could  have  afforded 
them  the  same  relief.  On  examining 
the  injury  done  to  the  vessel,  it  was 
found  that  a  large  piece  of  the  coral 
rock,  having  forced  its  way  through 
the  timbers,  had  remained  fixed  in 
the  aperture ;  but  for  this  providen- 
tial circumstance  the  ship  must  have 
sunk  the  moment  she  was  got  off  the 
reef. 

"  The  cove  in  which  our  navigators 
found  shelter  is  situated  at  the  mouth 
of  a  small  stream,  to  which  was  given 
the  name  of  Endeavour  River.  Here 
the  natives  appeared  rather  more  fami- 
liar, but  they  set  little  value  on  any- 
thing offered  to  them,  except  food. 
When  some  turtle,  which  they  coveted, 
was  refused  them,  they  avenged  the 
affront  by  setting  fire  to  the  long 
grass  near  the  tents,  an  action  which 
had  nearly  been  attended  with  dis- 
agreeable consequences.  Mr  Banks  and 
Dr  Solander  found  here  abundance  of 
employment ;  almost  everything  con- 
nected with  the  animal  and  vegetable 
kingdoms  being  absolutely  new.  Our 
naturalists  were  particularly  pleased 
with  the  animal  called  by  the  natives 
kangaroo.  They  saw  several  at  a  dis- 
tance, but  a  long  time  elapsed  before 
they  could  succeed  in  shooting  one. 

"  The  ship  being  repaired,  our  voy- 
agers left  the  harbour ;  and,  after 
much  patient  labour  and  anxiety,  at 
length  gained  the  deep  sea,  having 
been  three  months  entangled  within 
the  reefs.  They  now  prosecuted  their 
voyage  to  the  north,  nattering  them- 
selves that  the  danger  was  gone  by, 
when  the  wind  abated,  and  the  ship 
was  found  to  be  drifting  fast  towards 
the  reefs  which  lined  this  coast  nearly 
in  its  whole  extent,  and  on  which  the 
great  waves  of  the  Southern  Ocean 
break  with  a  tremendous  surf.  Her 
destruction  seemed  inevitable,  when  a 
narrow  channel  through  the  reefs  was 


1770-2.] 


END  OF  FIRST  VOYAGE. 


descried  at  no  great  distance;  and 
although  the  attempt  was  attended 
with  great  risk,  yet  the  ship  was 
steered  to  run  through  it.  Having 
thus  entered  from  necessity  a  second 
time  within  the  reef,  Cook  resolved  to 
persevere  through  all  difficulties  in 
following  the  coast  lest  he  might  lose 
the  strait  that  separates  New  Holland 
from  New  Guinea,  'if,'  as  he  doubt- 
fully expresses  it,  '  such  a  strait  there 
be. '  He  at  length  reached  a  point  of 
land  from  which  he  could  discern  an 
open  sea  to  the  south-west,  and  was 
thus  convinced  that  he  had  found  the 
strait  in  question.  He  then  landed, 
and  in  the  name  of  his  Sovereign  took 
possession  of  the  immense  line  of 
coast  that  he  had  discovered,  to  which 
he  gave  the  name  of  New  South  Wales. 
The  little  island  on  which  the  cere- 
mony was  performed  received  the 
name  of  Possession  Island. 

"The  crew  of  the  Endeavour  had 
suffered  so  much  from  sickness  and 
fatigue  that  it  was  not  deemed  advis- 
able to  prolong  the  voyage  by  an  ex- 


amination of  the  coasts  of  New  Guinea. 
Our  navigator,  therefore,  held  his 
course  for  Batavia,  where  he  wished 
to  refit  his  vessel ;  but  the  noxious 
climate  of  this  place  proved  more  fatal 
to  the  men  than  all  their  preceding 
hardships — scarcely  ten  remained  in 
a  condition  to  do  duty.  Tupia  and 
his  poor  boy  Tayeto,  who  had  been 
afflicted  with  the  scurvy  during  the 
whole  voyage,  were  among  the  first 
victims  to  the  pestilential  air  of  Bat- 
avia. The  seeds  of  illness  lingered  in 
the  ship  long  after  she  had  left  the 
place ;  and  before  her  arrival  at  the 
Cape  she  had  lost  no  less  than  thirty 
persons,  among  whom  were  Mr  Green 
the  astronomer,  Dr  Solander,  and  the 
surgeon  ;  the  life  of  Mr  Banks  also 
was  for  some  time  despaired  of.  On 
the  10th  of  June,  land,  which  proved 
to  be  the  Lizard,  was  discovered  by 
the  same  boy  who  had  first  seen  New 
Zealand ;  and  on  the  12th,  Cook  came 
to  an  anchor  in  the  Downs,  having 
been  employed  two  years  and  eleven 
months  in  his  voyage  round  the  earth. " 


COOK'S  SECOND  VOYAGE. 


"  THE  first  important  discovery  made 
by  Cook  was  effected  by  the  circum- 
navigation of  New  Zealand.  When 
Tasman  described  that  country,  he 
supposed  it  to  be  a  part  of  the  great 
Terra  Australis  Incognita,  extending 
probably  across  the  southern  Pacific 
Ocean;  but  Cook's  voyage  at  once 
overturned  this  theory.  An  opinion, 
however,  which  has  long  existed,  can- 
not be  at  once  dispelled,  although 
utterly  groundless ;  and  many  still 
continued  to  believe  in  the  existence 
of  a  southern  continent,  although 
Cook's  discoveries  had  cut  off  the  con- 
nection between  their  theory  and  the 
facts  which  hitherto  had  been  adduced 
in  its  support.  But  to  set  the  ques- 
tion of  a  southern  continent  completely 
at  rest,  another  expedition  was  neces. 


sary;  and  the  English  Government, 
having  now  made  the  advancement  of 
science  the  object  of  national  exer- 
tions, resolved  to  continue  their  laud- 
able researches.  The  King  was  partial 
to  the  scheme ;  and  the  Earl  of  Sand- 
wich, who  was  at  the  head  of  the  Ad- 
miralty, possessed  a  mind  sufficiently 
liberal  and  comprehensive  to  second 
effectively  the  wishes  of  his  Sovereign. 
"  Captain  Cook  was  named  at  once 
as  the  fittest  person  to  command  the 
new  expedition.  Two  ships,  the  Re- 
solution and  the  Adventure,  the  former 
of  462,  the  latter  of  336  tons  burthen, 
were  fitted  out  for  the  voyage  ;  and, 
that  no  opportunity  might  be  lost  to 
science  from  the  want  of  persons  cap- 
able of  observing  nature  under  every 
aspect,  astronomers  and  naturalists 


COOK'S  VOYAGES. 


[VOY.II. 


of  eminent  ability  were  engaged  to 
accompany  the  expedition ;  Messrs 
Wales  and  Bayley  proceeding  in  the 
former,  Reinhold  Forster  and  his  son 
in  the  latter,  capacity.  The  ships 
were  amply  stored  and  provided  for  a 
long  and  difficult  voyage,  particularly 
with  anti-scorbutics,  and  whatever 
was  thought  likely  to  preserve  the 
health  of  the  crews.  Cook  sailed 
from  Plymouth  on  the  13th  of  July 
1772,  on  his  second  voyage  of  dis- 
covery. On  his  arrival  at  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope,  he  was  induced,  by 
the  entreaties  of  Mr  Forster,  to  allow 
the  celebrated  naturalist  Sparmann 
to  join  the  expedition.  He  now  di- 
rected his  course  to  the  south,  in 
search  of  the  land  said  to  have  been 
discovered  by  the  French  navigator 
Bouvet,  but  violent  gales  drove  him 
far  to  the  east  of  the  meridian  in 
which  it  was  supposed  to  lie.  After 
long  struggling  with  adverse  winds, 
he  at  length  reached  the  same  meri- 
dian, some  leagues  to  the  south  of 
the  latitude  assigned  to  Cape  Cir- 
cumcision. Having  thus  proved  that 
the  land  said  to  have  been  seen  by 
Bouvet,  if  it  existed  at  all,  was  cer- 
tainly no  part  of  a  southern  contin- 
ent, he  continued  his  course  to  the 
south  and  east. 

"On  the  10th  of  December  our 
navigators  first  met  with  islands  of 
ice,  and  on  the  following  days  these 
occurred  in  greater  numbers  and  of 
larger  size  ;  some  of  them  were  nearly 
two  miles  in  circuit,  and  sixty  feet 
high  ;  yet  such  was  the  force  of  the 
waves,  that  the  sea  broke  quite  over 
them.  This  was  at  first  view  a  grati- 
fying spectacle,  but  the  sentiment  of 
pleasure  was  soon  swallowed  up  in  the 
horror  which  seized  on  the  mind  from 
the  contemplation  of  danger  ;  for  a 
ship  approaching  these  islands  on  the 
weather  side  would  be  dashed  to 
pieces  in  a  moment.  Amidst  the 
obstructions  to  which  our  navigators 
were  exposed  from  the  ice  islands  con- 
tinually succeeding  one  another,  they 
derived  the  advantage  of  having  an 
abundant  supply  of  fresh  water ;  large 
masses  of  ice  were  carried  off,  and 
stowed  on  deck,  and  the  water  pro- 


duced from  its   melting  was   found 
perfectly  sweet  and  well  tasted. 

"On  the  17th  of  January  1773, 
our  navigators  had  reached  the  Lati- 
tude of  67°  15'  S.,  and  they  saw  the 
ice  extending  from  east  to  west-south- 
west, without  the  least  appearance 
of  an  opening.  .  It  was  vain,  there- 
fore, to  persist  any  longer  in  a  south- 
erly course  ;  and  as  there  was  some 
danger  of  being  surrounded  by  the 
ice,  prudence  dictated  a  retreat  to  the 
north.  On  the  8th  of  February,  the 
weather  being  extremely  thick  and 
hazy,  it  was  found  that  the  Adventure 
had  parted  company  ;  the  rendezvous 
appointed  in  case  of  this  accident, 
was  Queen  Charlotte's  Sound  in  New 
Zealand,  and  thither  Cook  directed 
his  course.  In  the  Latitude  of  62* 
S.,  on  the  17th  of  the  same  month, 
between  midnight  and  3  o'clock  in 
the  morning,  lights  were  seen  in  the 
heavens,  similar  to  those  that  are 
known  in  the  northern  hemisphere 
by  the  name  of  the  Aurora  Borealis. 
Captain  Cook  had  never  heard  that 
the  Aurora  Australis  had  been  seen 
before,  but  the  same  phenomenon 
was  witnessed^repeatedly  in  the  sequel 
of  this  voyage.  During  his  run  to 
the  eastward  in  this  high  latitude, 
he  had  ample  reason  to  conclude  that 
no  land  lay  to  the  south,  unless  at  a 
very  great  distance.  At  length,  after 
having  been  117  days  at  sea,  during 
which  time  he  had  sailed  3660  leagues 
without  having  come  once  within 
sight  of  land,  he  saw  the  shores  t>f 
New  Zealand  on  the  25th  of  March, 
and  on  the  following  day  came  to  an 
anchor  in  Dusky  Bay.  Notwith- 
standing the  length  and  hardships  of 
his  voyage,  there  was  no  sickness  in 
the  ship ;  the  attention  which  he  paid 
to  the  health  of  the  men,  by  enforc- 
ing cleanliness,  by  keeping  the  vessel 
dry  and  well  ventilated,  and  by  the 
judicious  use  of  an ti- scorbutic  diet, 
being  attended  with  complete  success. 
Having  surveyed  Dusky  Bay,  he  pro- 
ceeded to  Queen  Charlotte's  Sound, 
where  Captain  Furneaux  had  arrived 
before  him. 


pany 


The  Adventure,  after  parting  com- 
f  with  the  Resolution,  had  fol- 


1773.]  VISIT  TO 

lowed  a  more  northerly  course,  and 
traced  the  coasts  of  Van  Dieman's 
Land  along  the  southern  and  eastern 
shores.  Captain  Furneaux  reported, 
"that  .in  his  opinion  there  are  no 
straits  between  this  land  and  New 
Holland,  but  a  very  deep  bay. "  Cook 
had  intended  to  investigate  this 
point,  but,  considering  it  to  be  now 
settled  by  the  judgment  of  his  col- 
league, he  resolved  to  prosecute  his 
researches  to  the  east,  between  the 
Latitudes  of  41°  and  46°.  But  before 
he  left  Queen  Charlotte's  Sound,  he 
succeeded  in  establishing  a  friendly  and 
mutually  advantageous  intercourse 
with  the  natives.  He  endeavoured 
to  give  them  substantial  proofs  of  his 
kind  intentions,  by  making  an  addi- 
tion to  their  stock  of  useful  animals. 
He  put  on  shore  a  ewe  and  ram,  and 
also  two  goats,  a  male  and  female. 
A  garden  also  was  dug,  and  a  variety 
of  seeds  of  culinary  vegetables,  adapted 
to  the  climate,  were  sown  in  it. 

"Although  it  was  the  winter  sea- 
son, Cook  determined  not  to  lose  his 
time  in  utter  inactivity.  His  ships 
being  sound,  and  his  crews  healthy, 
he  thought  that  he  might  safely  pro- 
ceed to  examine  the  Southern  Ocean 
within  the  Latitude  of  46° ;  and  then, 
refreshing  at  some  of  the  islands  be- 
tween the  tropics,  return  in  the  sum- 
mer season  to  carry  his  researches  to 
a  higher  latitude.  His  voyage  from 
New  Zealand  towards  the  east  was 
not  productive  of  any  interesting  dis- 
coveries, nor  diversified  by  any  but 
the  ordinary  details  of  navigation. 
He  felt  convinced,  from  the  great  sea 
that  rolled  from  the  south,  that  no 
land  of  any  extent  could  lie  near  him 
in  that  direction.  When  he  had  ad- 
vanced so  far  as  to  find  himself  to 
the  north  of  Carteret's  track,  he 
could  no  longer  entertain  any  hope  of 
finding  a  continent ;  and  this  circum- 
stance, xvith  the  sickly  state  of  the 
Adventure's  crew,  induced  him  to 
direct  his  course  to  the  Society 
Islands.  During  this  part  of  his  voy- 
age, he  sawa  number  of  those  small  low 
inlands  which  compose  the  Dangerous 
Archipelago  of  Bougainville. 

"The  ships  narrowly  escaped  de- 


OTAHEITE. 


59 


struction  by  drifting  on  the  coral 
ree&  at  Otaheite  ;  they  were  saved 
only  by  the  promptness  of  their 
commander,  and  the  unremitting 
exertions  of  the  crew.  On  the 
24th  of  August  they  anchored  in 
their  old  station  in  Matavai  Bay. 
The  men  on  board  the  Resolution 
were  at  this  time  in  perfect  health ; 
but  the  crew  of  the  Adventure,  on 
the  other  hand,  suffered  dreadfully 
from  the  scurvy,  though  the  two 
ships  were  equipped  alike,  and  the 
same  precautionary  system  to  pre- 
serve the  health  of  the  men  was  pre- 
scribed to  both  ;  but  zeal  on  the  part 
of  the  officers  was  requisite  to  give 
efficacy  to  the  orders,  and  their  ex- 
ample was  necessary  to  encourage  the 
men  to  sacrific^old  habits  in  order  to 
preserve  their  constitutions. 

"  During  this  visit  to  Otaheite,  our 
navigators  obtained  a  more  intimate 
acquaintance  with  the  manners  and 
character  of  the  natives.  Of  their 
religious  doctrines  they  were  unable 
to  acquire  a  distinct  knowledge  ;  but 
they  ascertained  that  human  victims 
were-  often  sacrificed  to  their  gods. 
They  also  witnessed  the  ' '  Heavas  " 
or  dramatic  representations  of  the 
people,  and  found  them  not  devoid  of 
archness  and  ingenuity.  The  per- 
formance was  generally  extemporane- 
ous, founded  upon  some  incidents 
presented  at  the  moment,  and  in 
which  our  navigators  usually  made  a 
prominent  figure.  Otoo,  the  present 
king  of  Otaheite,  a  man  of  fine  figure 
but  of  remarkably  timid  disposition, 
contracted  an  intimate  friendship  with 
Captain  Cook.  Oberea,  who,  when 
the  island  was  first  visited  by  Captain 
Wallis,  was  so  conspicuous  a  char- 
acter, was  now  reduced  to  an  humble 
station,  and  had  declined  as  much  in 
personal  appearance  as  in  rank.  It  is 
remarkable  that  few  inquiries  were 
made  after  Tupia,  who  had  accom- 
panied Cook  in  his  former  voyage, 
or  after  Aootooroo,  the  native  of  Ota- 
heite, who  had  accompanied  Bou- 
gainville to  Europe  ;  but,  though  the 
islanders  were  neglectful  of  their  own 
countrymen,  they  were  unifonrjy  soli- 
citous in  inquiring  after  Mr  iJanks. 


60 


COOK'S  VOYAGES. 


[YOY.II. 


"  On  leaving  Otaheite,  Cook  visited 
the  other  islands  of  the  group,  where 
he  found  provisions  in  greater  abund- 
ance. Oree,  the  chief  of  Huaheine, 
evinced  towards  him  the  most  affec- 
tionate regard.  Omai,  a  native  of 
Ulietea,  being  desirous  to  accompany 
the  English,  was  admitted  by  Captain 
Furneaux  on  board  the  Adventure ; 
he  was  not  of  the  higher  class,  and, 
consequently,  not  a  favourable  speci- 
men of  these  islanders  as  far  as  re- 
garded person  and  deportment ;  but 
his  docility  and  general  propriety  of 
conduct  eventually  justified  the  choice 
of  Captain  Furneaux.  A  young  na- 
tive of  Borabora,  named  Hete-Hete, 
or  Oedidee  (as  our  great  navigator 
named  him),  was  at  the  same  time 
allowed  by  Captain  Cook  to  embark 
in  the  Resolution. 

"  On  quitting  the  Society  Islands, 
Cook  directed  his  course  to  the  west, 
where  he  had  reason  to  believe,  from 
the  accounts  of  the  natives,  that 
much  yet  remained  to  be  explored. 
At  the  island  named  Middleburg  by 
Roggewein,  he  was  well  treated  by  a 
chief  called  Tioony ;  at  Amsterdam 
Island  his  reception  was  equally 
favourable.  The  language  of  these 
islanders  differed  but  little  from  that 
of  Otaheite,  and  they  were  evidently 
of  the  same  race.  Some  of  our  navi- 
gators thought  them  much  hand- 
somer ;  but  others,  and  among  these 
Cook  himself,  were  of  a  different 
opinion.  The  men  were  grave  and 
stately  ;  but  the  women,  on  the  con- 
trary, were  remarkably  vivacious, 
and  prattled  unceasingly  to  the 
strangers,  regardless  of  the  mortify- 
ing fact  that  the  latter  could  not 
understand  them.  But  these  people 
were  chiefly  distinguished  from  the 
natives  of  the  Society  Islands  by 
their  superior  industry.  On  the 
Island  of  Amsterdam,  Captain  Cook 
was  struck  with  admiration,  when  he 
surveyed  the  cultivation  and  the 
beauty  of  the  scene  ;  he  thought  him- 
self transported  into  the  most  fertile 
plains  of  Europe  ;  there  was  not  an 
inch  of  waste  ground.  The  roads  or 
paths  occupied  no  more  space  than 
was  absolutely  necessary,  and  the 


fences  did  not  take  up  above  four 
inches  each  ;  nor  was  this  small  por- 
tion of  ground  wholly  lost,  for  the 
fences  themselves  contained  in  gene- 
ral useful  trees  or  plants.  The  scene 
was  everywhere  the  same  ;  and  nature, 
assisted  by  a  little  art,  nowhere  as- 
sumed a  more  splendid  appearance 
than  in  these  islands. 

"  Cook  now  directed  his  course 
again  to  New  Zealand ;  but,  on  ap- 
proaching that  country,  the  ships  had 
to  encounter  a  succession  of  severe 
gales  and  continued  bad  weather, 
during  which  the  Adventure  was 
again  lost  sight  of  and  never  after- 
wards rejoined.  On  the  3d  of  Nov- 
ember the  Resolution  anchored  in 
Queen  Charlotte's  Sound.  The  winter 
had  been  spent  not  unprofitably  in 
revictualling  the  ships,  restoring  the 
health  of  the  crews,  and  obtaining  a 
more  accurate  knowledge  of  the 
islands  between  the  tropics.  And 
now,  as  summer  approached,  it  was 
Cook's  intention  to  run  from  New 
Zealand,  where  wood  and  water  were 
to  be  procured  in  abundance,  and  to 
explore  the  high  southern  latitudes 
from  west  to  east,  in  which  course  he 
might  reckon  upon  having  the  winds 
and  currents  in  his  favour.  While 
the  Resolution  lay  in  Queen  Char- 
lotte's Sound,  indubitable  proofs  pre- 
sented themselves  that  cannibalism 
was  common  among  the  natives.  One 
of  them  who  carried  some  human 
flesh  in  bin  canoe,  was  allowed  to 
broil  and  eat  it  on  board  the  Resolu- 
tion, in  order  to  satisfy  the  doubts  of 
some  of  the  officers.  Oedidee,  who 
witnessed  all  this,  was  shocked  be- 
yond measure  at  the  spectacle.  At 
first  he  stood  motionless  as  a  statue, 
but  his  horror  at  length  gave  way  to 
rage,  which  vented  itself  not  only  on 
the  New  Zealander,  but  on  the  officers 
who  had  encouraged  him  ;  and  he 
could  not  be  induced  even  to  touch 
the  knife  which  had  been  employed 
to  cut  the  human  flesh. 

"On  the  2Gth  of  November,  Cook 
sailed  to  prosecute  his  examination  of 
the  Antarctic  seas.  His  crew  were  in 
good  health  and  high  spirits,  not  at 
all  dejected  by  the  arduous  task  which 


1774.]  THE  STATUES  ON 

was  before  them.  In  a  few  days  they 
crossed  the  antipodes  of  London,  and 
were  thus  on  the  point  of  the  globe 
which  was  most  distant  from  their 
home.  The  first  ice  island  was  seen 
on  the  12th  of  December ;  and,  on 
the  30th  of  that  month,  our  naviga- 
tors had  reached  the  71st  degree  of 
southern  latitude ;  but  here  the  ice 
was  so  compact  that  it  was  impossible 
to  proceed  any  further  towards  the 
south  ;  and  it  was  also  obvious  that 
no  continent  existed  in  that  direction 
but  what  must  be  inaccessible  from 
the  ice.  It  was  Cook's  intention  to 
winter  again  within  the  tropic  ;  but 
in  proceeding  thither,  he  wished  to 
satisfy  himself  as  to  the  southern  land 
said  to  have  been  discovered  by  Juan 
Fernandez.  He  sailed  sufficiently 
near  the  position  assigned  to  that 
supposed  continent  to  assure  himself 
that  it  could  not  have  been  anything 
more  than  an  island  of  moderate  size. 
He  now  directed  his  course  in  search 
of  Da  vis's  Land  or  Easter  Island, 
which  had  been  sought  in  vain  by 
Byron,  Carteret,  and  Bougainville. 
Cook,  however,  succeeded  better,  and 
made  the  island  on  the  llth  of  March 
1774.  The  natives  were  found  to 
speak  a  language  radically  the  same 
with  that  of  Otaheite,  and  which 
thus  reaches  across  the  Pacific  Ocean 
from  New  Zealand  to  the  sequestered 
islands  in  the  East.  Easter  Island 
was  found  to  be  remarkably  barren, 
ill  supplied  with  water,  and  wholly 
without  wood.  But  the  attention  of 
the  English  was  forcibly  attracted  by 
the  great  statues  seen  on  the  island 
by  Roggewein.  About  fifteen  yards 
from  the  landing-place  was  found  a 
perpendicular  wall  of  square  hewn 
stones,  about  eight  feet  in  height, 
and  nearly  sixty  in  length  ;  another 
wall  parallel  to  the  first,  and  about 
forty  feet  distant  from  it,  was  raised 
to  the  same  height ;  the  whole  area 
between  the  walls  was  filled  up  and 
paved  with  square  stones  of  blackish 
lava.  The  stones  of  the  walls  were 
so  carefully  fitted  as  to  make  a  dur- 
able piece  of  architecture.  In  the 
midst  of  the  area  was  a  pillar  con 
sisting  of  a  single  stone,  about  twenty 


EASTER  ISLAND. 


61 


feet  high  and  about  five  feet  wide,  re- 
presenting the  human  figure  down  to 
the  waist.  The  workmanship  was 
rude  but  not  bad  ;  nor  were  the  fea- 
tures of  the  face  ill  formed,  but  the 
ears  were  long  beyond  proportion. 
On  the  top  of  the  head  was  placed 
upright  a  huge  round  cylinder  oi 
stone,  above  five  feet  in  height  and 
in  diameter ;  this  cap,  which  resem- 
bled the  head-dress  of  an  Egyptian 
divinity,  was  formed  of  a  kind  of 
stone  different  from  that  which  com- 
posed the  rest  of  the  pillar,  and  had 
a  hole  on  each  side,  as  if  it  had  been 
made  round  by  turning.  It  appeared 
as  difficult  to  explain  how  the  natives 
of  this  island,  who  were  but  few  in 
number,  could  carve  such  huge  statues 
with  no  better  tools  than  those  made 
of  bones  or  shells,  or  how  they  'raised 
them  on  their  pedestals  when  finished, 
as  to  divine  for  what  purpose  they 
undertook  such  gigantic  labours  ;  for 
it  did  not  appear  that  the  statues 
were  objects  of  worship  ;  yet  on  the 
eastern  side  of  the  island  they  were 
numerous  enough  to  employ  the  male 
population  of  the  island  for  many 
centuries  in  their  construction.  The 
skill  of  this  people  in  carving  was 
still  more  manifest  in  the  ornaments 
of  their  canoes,  and  in  small  wooden 
figures,  of  which  the  English  brought 
home  many  curious  specimens. 

"  From  Easter  Island  Cook  directed 
his  course  to  the  Marquesas,  dis- 
covered by  Mendana  in  1595 ;  and  on 
the  6th  of  April  he  got  sight  of  one 
island  of  the  group,  which  was,  how- 
ever, a  new  discovery,  and  received, 
from  the  gentleman  who  first  descried 
it,  the  name  of  Hood's  Island.  The 
other  islands  seen  by  Mendana,  St 
Pedro,  Dominica,  and  St  Christiana, 
were  afterwards  discovered  in  succes- 
sion. The  ship  with  much  difficulty 
anchored  in  Mendana's  Port  in  the 
last-mentioned  island.  Magdalena, 
the  fifth  island  of  the  group,  was 
seen  only  at  a  distance.  Of  the  in- 
habitants of  these  islands  Captain 
Cook  tells  us,  that  collectively  they 
are  without  exception  the  finest  race 
of  people  in  this  sea  ;  for  fine  shape 
and  regular  features  they  perhapa 


62 


COOK'S  VOYAGES. 


[VOY.II. 


surpass-  all  other  nations.  Neverthe- 
less the  affinity  of  their  language  to 
that  spoken  in  Otaheite  and  the 
Society  Islands  shows  that  they  are 
originally  of  the  same  nation.  Oedi- 
dee  could  converse  with  them  toler- 
ably well,  though  the  English  could 
not,  and  it  was  obvious  that  their 
languages  were  nearly  the  same.  In 
their  manners  and  arts  the  people  re- 
sembled the  natives  of  Otaheite,  but 
appeared  to  be  rather  less  ingenious 
and  refined.  Forts,  or  strongholds, 
were  seen  on  the  summits  of  the 
highest  hills ;  but  they  were  not 
visited  by  the  English,  who  had  not 
become  sufficiently  acquainted  with 
the  natives  to  venture  into  the  in- 
terior. 

"  Cook,  having  rediscovered  the 
Marquesas  of  Mendana,  proceeded  to 
Otaheite,  and  passing  by  a  group,  to 
which  he  gave  the  name  of  Palliser's 
Islands,  and  some  others  which  had 
been  seen  by  Byron,  he  anchored  in 
Matavai  Bay  on  the  22d  of  April. 
At  this  time  there  were  no  sick  on 
board;  but  as  the  island  seemed  to 
abound  with  provisions,  our  naviga- 
tor was  willing  to  prolong  his  stay 
here.  His  original  stock  in  trade 
was,  indeed,  now  exhausted ;  but  he 
found  that  the  people  of  Otaheite  set 
a  great  value  on  the  red  parrot 
feathers,  of  which  he  had  brought  a 
considerable  supply  from  Amsterdam 
and  Midtlleburg  Islands.  He  thus 
accidentally  learned  an  advantageous 
and  easy  course  of  traffic  in  the  South 
Sea. 

"Among  other  entertainments  with 
which  our  navigators  were  treated 
during  this  visit  to  Otaheite  was  a 
grand  naval  review.  The  vessels  of 
war  consisted  of  160  great  canoes, 
from  fifty  to  ninety  feet  in  length  ; 
they  were  decorated  with  flags  and 
streamers  ;  and  the  chiefs,  together 
with  all  those  who  were  on  the  fight- 
ing stages,  were  dressed  in  their  war 
habits.  The  whole  fleet  made  a  noble 
appearance,  such  as  our  voyagers  had 
never  before  seen,  and  could  not  have 
expected  in  this  part  of  the  world. 
Besides  the  vessels  of  war,  there  were 
170  sail  of  smaller  double  canoes, 


which  seemed  to  be  designed  for 
transports  and  victuallers.  Upon 
each  of  them  was  a  small  house  or 
shed ;  and  they  were  rigged  with  a 
mast  and  sail,  which  was  not  the 
case  with  the  war  canoes.  Captain 
Cook  estimated,  at  a  moderate  com- 
putation, that  there  could  not  be  less 
than  7760  men  in  the  fleet ;  but  the 
immense  number  of  natives  assembled 
as  spectators  astonished  the  English 
more  than  the  splendour  of  the  ar- 
mament, and  they  were  still  further 
surprised  to  leam  that  this  fleet  was 
the  naval  force  of  only  one  of  the 
twenty  districts  into  which  the  island 
is  divided.  On  these  equivocal 
grounds  they  were  led  to  form  an 
extremely  exaggerated  calculation  of 
the  population  of  Otaheite,  which 
they  estimated  to  be  at  least  200,000 
souls;  a  number  exceeding  the  truth, 
perhaps,  in  the  proportion  of  ten  to 
one. 

"  From  Otaheite  our  navigators  pro- 
ceeded to  visit  the  Society  Islands,  at 
Huaheine.  Cook  was  affectionately 
received  by  the  old  chief  Oree,  who 
still  carefully  preserved  the  medals, 
coins,  and  pewter  plate  with  an  in- 
scription commemorating  the  voyage, 
which  our  commander  had  given  him 
on  his  former  visit.  Oedidee,  who 
for  seven  months  had  been  the  faith- 
ful companion  of  our  voyagers,  and 
had  made  with  them  the  tour  of  the 
Pacific,  was  put  on  shore  at  Ulietea. 
He  left  the  English  with  regret  de- 
monstrative of  a  strong  attachment 
to  them ;  and  nothing  could  have 
torn  him  from  them  but  the  fear  of 
never  returning  to  his  native  country. 
He  was  a  fine  young  man,  of  a  docile 
and  humane  disposition,  and  of  the 
better  class  of  natives,  being  nearly 
related  to  Opoony,  the  formidable 
chief  of  Borabora.  But  from  his  in- 
experience and  imperfect  acquaintance 
with  the  traditionary  knowledge  of 
his  countrymen,  but  little  could  be 
learned  from  him  respecting  their 
history. 

"  Cook  again  directed  his  course  to 
the  west,  and  repeated  his  visit  to  the 
Friendly  Islands.  This  name  he  gave 
to  a  group  extending  through  about 


1774.] 


THE  FRIENDLY  ISLANDS. 


three  degrees  of  latitude  and  two  de- 
grees of  longitude,  and  comprising 
Anamooka,  which  Tasman,  who  first 
discovered  it,  named  Rotterdam, 
Tongataboo  or  Amsterdam,  Eaoowee 
or  Middleburg,  and  Pylstart  Islands. 
But  this  appellation,  to  which  these 
islands  were  entitled  by  the  firm  alli- 
ance and  friendship  which  seemed  to 
exist  among  their  inhabitants,  and 
their  courteous  behaviour  to  strangers, 
might  perhaps  be  extended  much  far- 
ther, so  as  to  include  the  Boscawen 
and  Keppel  Isles  discovered  by  Cap- 
tain Wallis,  and  inhabited  by  people 
of  the  same  friendly  manners. 

"  Pursuing  their  course  to  the  west, 
our  navigators  discovered  on  the  16th 
of  July,  land,  which  was  justly  con- 
jectured to  be  the  'Terra  Australia 
del  Espirito  Santo '  of  Quiros.  After 
exploring  the  coast  for  a  few  days, 
Cook  came  to  an  anchor  in  a  harbour 
in  the  Island  of  Mallicolo.  The  in- 
habitants of  this  island  were  the  most 
ugly  and  deformed  race  which  our 
navigators  had  yet  seen,  and  differed 
in  every  respect  from  the  other  inha- 
bitants of  the  Southern  Ocean.  They 
were  dark  coloured,  of  small  stature, 
with  long  heads,  flat  faces,  and  coun- 
tenances resembling  that  of  a  monkey. 
Their  language,  also,  was  found  not 
to  have  any  discoverable  affinity  with 
that  prevailing  through  the  islands 
with  which  the  English  had  any  ac- 
quaintance. This  people  differed 
likewise  from  the  great  Polynesian 
race  not  more  by  their  language  and 
figure  than  by  their  scrupulous  hon- 
esty. As  our  navigators  proceeded  to- 
wards the  south  from  Mallicolo,  they 
passed  by  a  group  which  Cook  named 
Shepherd's  Isles.  Farther  to  the 
south  was  discovered  a  large  island 
agreeably  diversified  with  woods  and 
lawns  over  the  whole  surface,  and  ex- 
hibiting a  most  beautiful  and  delight- 
ful prospect.  This  our  navigator 
named  Sandwich  Island  in  compliment 
to  his  friend  and  patron  the  Earl  of 
Sandwich.  Still  farther  to  the  south 
was  seen  another  large  island,  called 
by  the  natives  Erromango,  which  he 
coasted  for  three  days,  and  then  came 
to  an  anchor  in  the  intention  of  pro- 


curing a  supply  of  wood  and  water. 
This,  however,  could  not  be  effected 
without  a  violent  conflict  with  the 
natives,  who  were  both  fierce  and 
treacherous.  It  was  observed  that 
they  differed  from  the  inhabitants  of 
Mallicolo  both  in  language  and  phy- 
sical conformation  ;  they  were  well 
shaped  and  had  tolerable  features,  but 
dark  coloured,  and  with  hair  crisp 
and  somewhat  woolly.  From  this 
place  Cook  sailed  for  an  island  which 
had  been  descried  some  time  before 
at  a  distance.  He  found  that  it  was 
called  Tanna  by  the  inhabitants,  from 
whom  also  he  learned  the  names  of 
three  other  islands  in  its  neighbour- 
hood, Inmer,  Erronan,  and  Anaton. 
Two  languages  were  found  to  be  spoken 
in  Tanna  ;  one  of  them,  which  was 
said  to  have  been  introduced  from 
Erronan,  was  nearly  the  same  with 
that  of  the  Friendly  Islands  ;  the 
other,  which  our  navigators  consi- 
dered peculiur  to  Tanna,  Erromango, 
and  Anaton,  was  different  from  any 
they  had  hitherto  met  with  in  the 
course  of  their  researches.  The  people 
at  Tanna  were  well  proportioned,  but 
not  robust.  They  had  good  features 
and  agreeable  countenances.  Though 
active,  and  fond  of  martial  exercises, 
they  seemed  incapable  of  patient 
labour.  It  appeared  that  they  prac- 
tised circumcision,  and  that  they 
were  eaters  of  human  flesh  ;  though, 
as  their  island  aoounded  with  hogs 
and  fowls,  and  a  variety  of  fruits, 
they  could  not  be  driven  by  necessity 
to  adopt  this  horrid  practice. 

"Captain  Cook  devoted  above  a 
mouth  to  the  survey  of  this  archipel- 
ago, with  which  previous  navigators 
had  made  but  a  superficial  acquaint- 
ance. The  northern  islands  were 
discovered  in  1606  by  Quiros,  who 
supposed  them  to  be  portions  of  the 
great  southern  continent.  Bougain- 
ville, in  1768,  dispelled  this  idea, 
though  he  did  not  proceed  to  examine 
the  islands  near  which  he  sailed ;  but 
Captain  Cook,  besides  ascertaining 
the  extent  and  situation  of  the  islands 
already  known,  explored  the  whole 
group  ;  and,  conceiving  that  in  con- 
sequence he  had  a  right  to  name 


COOK'S  VOYAGES. 


[VOY.II. 


them,  bestowed  on  them  the  appella- 
tion of  the  New  Hebrides. 

"  The  season  was  now  approaching 
when  it  would  be  necessary  to  resume 
his  researches  in  a  high  southern  lati- 
tude, and  he  hastened  therefore  to 
New  Zealand,  where  he  intended  to 
refresh  his  people  and  prepare  for  a 
navigation  of  considerable  length. 
He  sailed  from  the  New  Hebrides  on 
the  1st  of  September,  and  on  the  4th 
discovered  land,  near  which  the  Reso- 
lution came  to  anchor  the  next  day. 
The  inhabitants  were  a  strong,  active, 
and  handsome  race,  bearing  some  re- 
semblance to  the  people  of  Tanna, 
and  those  of  the  Friendly  Isles.  The 
same  mixed  character  was  observed  in 
their  language.  They  had  never  seen 
Europeans  before,  but  were  friendly 
and  obliging  in  their  behaviour  ;  and 
what  is  still  more  remarkable  in  the 
South  Seas,  strictly  honest  in  all  their 
dealings.  To  this  island  Captain  Cook 
gave  the  name  of  New  Caledonia ;  and 
though  compelled  by  necessity  to  leave 
it  before  it  was  fully  surveyed,  he 
had,  nevertheless,  examined  "it  suffi- 
ciently to  prove,  that,  excepting  New 
Zealand,  it  is  perhaps  the  largest 
island  in  the  South  Pacific  Ocean, 
As  the  Resolution  pursued  her  course 
from  New  Caledonia,  land  was  dis- 
covered, which,  on  a  nearer  approach, 
was  found  to  be  an  island  of  good 
height,  and  about  five  leagues  in  cir- 
cuit. It  was  uninhabited,  and  pro- 
bably our  English  navigators  were 
the  first  persons  who  had  ever  set  foot 
on  it.  In  its  vegetable  productions  it 
bore  a  close  resemblance  to  New  Zea- 
land. The  flax  plant  of  that  country 
was  here  particularly  luxuriant ;  but 
the  chief  produce  of  the  island  was 
a  majestic  species  of  pine,  of  such 
a  size  that,  breast  high,  two  men 
could  scarcely  clasp  the  trunk.  This 
little  spot  was  named  Norfolk  Island. 
Its  fine  woods  and  fertile  soil  allured, 
some  years  later,  a  party  of  British 
settlers  ;  who  finally  abandoned  it, 
however,  from  the  inaccessible  nature 
of  its  coast. 

"  On  the  1 8th  of  October  the  Reso- 
lution  came  to  anchor  in  Queen  Char- 
lotte's Sound.  This  was  the  third  time 


of  touching  at  New  Zealand  during 
this  voyage.  On  searching  for  the 
bottle  which  Cook  had  left  behind  on 
his  last  visit,  containing  the  particu- 
lars of  his  arrival,  it  was  found  to 
have  been  taken  away ;  and  from  other 
circumstances  it  was  evident  that  the 
Adventure  had  visited  the  harbour 
after  the  Resolution  had  left  it.  While 
the  Resolution  remained  here,  the  in- 
tercourse maintained  with  the  natives 
was  of  the  most  friendly  description. 
Captain  Cook  continued  his  efforts  to 
stock  the  island  with  useful  animals, 
and  for  that  purpose  ordered  a  boar 
and  sow  to  be  put  on  shore. 

"  On  the  10th  of  November  he  left 
New  Zealand  to  pursue  his  voyage  to 
the  east.  Towards  the  close  of  that 
month,  he  had  reached  the  Latitude  of 
55°  48'  S.,  when,  deeming  it  useless 
to  search  any  longer  for  a  continent 
in  that  direction,  he  bore  away  for 
Cape  Horn  ;  and  on  the  17th  of  De- 
cember had  sight  of  Tierra  del  Fuego. 
This  is  the  first  instance  of  a  run  quite 
across  the  Southern  Pacific.  It  now 
only  remained  for  our  navigator  to 
cross  also  the  Southern  Atlantic  to 
the  point  whence  he  had  commenced 
his  explorations.  Having  completed 
his  examination  of  Tierra  del  Fuego 
and  Staaten  Land,  he  proceeded  to- 
wards the  east;  and,  after  a  voyage 
of  ten  days,  land  was  seen  at  a  dis- 
tance, nearly  covered  with  snow.  On 
approaching  the  shore,  it  was  found 
to  be  terminated  in  many  places  by 
perpendicular  ice  cliffs  of  considerable 
height.  Pieces  continually  broke  off 
with  a  noise  like  the  report  of  cannon, 
and  floated  out  to  sea.  The  general 
aspect  of  the  country  was  savage  and 
horrid  in  the  extreme.  The  wild 
rocks  raised  their  lofty  summits  till 
they  were  lost  in  the  clouds,  and  the 
valleys  lay  covered  with  everlasting 
snow.  Our  navigator,  who  at  first 
view  of  this  land  supposed  that  it 
might  be  a  continent,  confesses  that 
lie  was  not  much  disappointed  on  dis- 
covering his  error ;  '  for  to  judge  of 
the  bulk  by  the  sample,  it  would  not 
36  worth  discovering.'  In  Latitude 
599,  and  about  eight  degrees  to  the 
east  of  New  Georgia,  as  this  inhospil  - 


1774.]  BARBAROUS  TREATMENT 
able  shore  was  named,  land  was  again 
seen,  presenting  an  elevated  coast, 
whose  lofty  snow-clad  siirnmits reached 
above  the  clouds.  To  this  bleak  region 
Cook  gave  the  name  of  the  Southern 
Thule,  as  it  was  the  most  southern 
land  which  had  yet  been  discovered  ; 
but  on  leaving  the  coast  he  gave  to 
the  whole  country  the  general  appel- 
lation of  Sandwich  Land,  which  he 
concluded  to  be  either  a  group  of 
islands  or  a  point  of  the  southern 
continent.  But  the  great  quantities  of 
ice  which  he  met  with  led  him  to  infer 
the  existence  of  a  large  tract  of  land 
near  the  South  Pole.  He  now  sailed 
as  far  as  the  latitude  assigned  to  Bou- 
vet's  supposed  discovery  ;  but  no  in- 
dications of  land  occurred,  nor  was  it 
possible  to  believe  any  longer  in  the 
existence  of  Cape  Circumcision. 

"  Cook  had  now  made  a  circuit  of 
the  Southern  Ocean  in  a  high  latitude, 
and  traversed  it  in  such  a  manner  as 
to  demonstrate  that  no  southern  con- 
tinent existed  unless  near  the  Pole, 
and  beyond  the  reach  of  navigation. 
During  this  circumnavigation  of  the 
globe,  from  the  time  of  his  leaving 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  to  his  return 
to  it  again,  he  had  sailed  no  less  than 
20,000  leagues.  On  the  13th  of  July 
1775,  he  landed  at  Portsmouth,  hav- 
ing been  absent  from  Great  Britain 
three  years  and  eighteen  days,  during 
which  time,  and  under  all  changes  of 
climate,  he  had  lost  but  four  men, 
and  only  one  of  them  by  sickness. 

"It  has  been  related  above  that 
Captain  Cook,  on  approaching  New 
Zealand  for  the  second  time  in  the 
course  of  this  voyage,  lost  sight  of  the 
Adventure,  and  never  joined  company 
with  that  ship  again.  Captain  Fur- 
neaux  was  long  baffled  b}r  adverse 
winds  in  his  attempt  to  reach  Queen 
Charlotte's  Sound,  which  was  ap- 
pointed the  rendezvous  for  the  ships 
in  case  of  separation.  At  length,  on 
the  30th  of  November,  the  Adventure 
got  safe  into  the  desired  port.  The 
Resolution  not  being  there,  Captain 
Furneaux  and  his  company  began  to 
entertain  doubts  of  her  safety ;  but  on 
going  on  shore  they  observed  on  an 
old  stump  of  a  tree  these  words  cut 


OF  CREW  OF  ADVENTURE.  65 
out — '  Look  underneath.'  They  dug 
accordingly,  and  soon  found  a  bottle 
corked  and  waxed  down,  with  a  letter 
in  it  from  Captain  Cook,  signifying 
his  arrival  on  the  3d  and  departure 
on  the  24th.  Great  exertions  were 
now  made  to  get  the  Adventure  ready 
for  sea,  and  on  the  17th  of  December, 
the  preparations  being  completed,  Mr 
Rowe,  a  midshipman,  with  nine  men, 
were  sent  in  the  large  cutter  to  gather 
a  stock  of  wild  greens  for  the  ship's 
company.  As  the  boat  did  not  return 
the  same  evening  nor  the  next  morn- 
ing, and  the  ship  was  now  ready  for 
sea,  Mr  Burney,  the  second  lieuten- 
ant, proceeded  in  search  of  her  in  the 
launch,  manned  with  the  boat's  crew 
and  ten  marines.  The  launch  pro- 
ceeded, firing  guns  into  all  the  coves 
by  way  of  signals,  but  no  traces  of 
the  cutter  were  found  till  they  reached 
Grass  Cove.  Here  a  great  many  bas- 
kets were  seen  lying  on  the  beach  tied 
up;  when  cut  open,  some  of  them 
were  found  to  be  full  of  roasted  flesh, 
and  some  of  fern  root,  which  served 
the  natives  for  bread.  On  further 
search,  some  shoes  were  picked  up 
and  a  hand,  which  was  immediately 
known  to  have  belonged  to  Thomas 
Hill,  one  of  the  forecastle  men,  the 
initials  of  his  name  being  marked  on 
it  with  an  Otaheitan  tatooing  instru- 
ment. The  natives  were  collected  in 
considerable  numbers  round  Grass 
Cove,  shouting  and  inviting  the  Eng- 
lish to  land,  but  evidently  with  no 
friendly  intentions.  From  their  num- 
bers, and  the  suspicion  which  their 
conduct  excited  in  our  people,  Lieu- 
tenant Burney  did  not  deem  it  pru- 
dent to  trust  himself  among  them ; 
but  he  pursued  his  examination  far 
enough  to  obtain  a  melancholy  cer- 
tainty as  to  the  fate  of  his  unfortunate 
companions.  '  On  the  beach, '  he  says, 
'  were  two  bundles  of  celery,  which 
had  been  gathered  for  loading  the 
cutter ;  a  broken  oar  was  stuck  up- 
right in  the  ground,  to  which  the 
natives  had  tied  their  canoes,  a  proof 
that  the  attack  had  been  made  here. 
I  then  searched  all  along  at  the  back 
of  the  beach  to  see  if  the  cutter  was 
there.  We  found  no  boat,  but  instead 


COOK'S  VOYAGES. 


[VoT.IL 


of  her  such  a  shocking  scene  of  car- 
nage and  barbarity  as  can  never  be 
mentioned  nor  thought  of  but  with 
horror ;  for  the  heads,  hearts,  and 
lungs  of  several  of  our  people  were 
seen  lying  on  the  beach  ;  and,  at  a 
little  distance,  the  dogs  gnawing  their 
entrails.'  The  men  who  had  thus 
fallen  victims  to  the  barbarity  of  the 
natives  were  among  the  healthiest  and 
best  of  the  ship's  crew. 

"  The  Adventure  was  detained  in 
the  sound  four  days  after  this  lament- 
able occurrence,  during  which  time  no 
natives  were  seen.  On  the  23d  of 
December,  however,  she  got  to  sea ; 
and  in  little  more  than  a  month 
reached  Cape  Horn,  being  favoured 
by  a  strong  current  running  to  the 
east,  and  by  westerly  winds  which 
blow  continually  in  the  summer  season 
in  the  great  ocean.  Captain  Furneaux 
continued  his  course  eastward  to  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope,  where  he  refitted 
his  ship  and  refreshed  his  people.  He 
then  sailed  for  England,  and  anchored 
at  Spithead  on  the  14th  of  July  1774. 

"  In  1769  some  discoveries  of  im- 
portance were  made  in  the  South  Seas 
by  a  French  mercantile  adventurer. 
Two  ships  were  fitted  out  in  Bengal 
by  MM.  Law  and  Chevalier  for  a 
trading  voyage  to  Peru,  and  were 

E laced  under  the  command  of  M.  de 
urville.  While  he  was  preparing  to 
embark,  news  arrived  in  India  that 
the  English  had  discovered  in  the 
South  Sea,  700  leagues  from  Peru, 
and  in  Lat.  27°  S.,  an  island  exceed- 
ingly rich,  and  inhabited  by  Jews. 
This  story  gained  credit,  being  con- 
genial to  the  avaricious  cravings  oJ 
mankind ;  and  even  those  who  sus- 
pected fiction  in  the  mention  of  Jews 
were  still  willing  to  believe  that  the 
newly-discovered  country  was  emin- 
ently rich.  Surville,  touching  at  the 
Bashee  Islands,  carried  off  three  o: 
the  natives  to  supply  the  deficiencies 
of  his  crew,  thus  furnishing  a  conspi 
cuous  example  of  that  overbearing 
violence  which  has  almost  universally 
forced  weak  and  uncivilised  nation 
to  regard  Europeans  as  their  natura 
enemies.  In  running  to  the  south 


ast  from  New  Guinea  he  discovered 
and,  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of 
he  Land  of  the  Arsacides,  and  which 
vas,  in  fact,  a  part  of  that  long  chain 
f  islands  that  had  already  beeu  seen 
y  Bougainville,  who  gave  the  name 
f  Louisiade  to  the  portion  which  he 
lad  examined.  Surville,  in  his  inter- 
;ourse  with  the  natives,  found  them 
o  be  of  a  fierce,  intractable,  and 
reacherous  disposition,  and  chose  to 
Lesignate  them  Arsacides,  a  name 
which  he  supposed  to  be  equivalent 
;o  the  word  assassins.  Surville  after- 
wards visited  New  Zealand,  and  an- 
chored'in  a  bay,  to  which  he  gave  the 
name  of  Lauriston.  Captain  Cook, 
who  named  it  Double  Bay,  was  at  the 
same  time  employed  in  surveying  its 
shores,  yet  these  two  navigators  did 
not  meet  nor  desciy  each  other.  The 
French  commander,  having  lost  his 
boat  while  anchoring  here,  went  on 
shore  with  an  armed  party  to  punish 
the  natives,  whom  he  supposed  to 
have  stolen  it.  In  a  short  time  he 
burned  several  villages,  and  carried  off 

native  chief.  This  outrage,  perpe- 
trated by  some  of  the  first  Europeans 
who  visited  them,  was  soon  afterwards 
repaid  with  cruel  reprisals  by  the 
New  Zealanders.  The  chief  died  at 
Juan  Fernandez,  and  Surville  was 
drowned  while  going  on  shore  at  Val- 
paraiso. 

"  The  Land  of  the  Arsacides,  which 
Surville  had  coasted  on  the  north-east- 
ern side,  was  again  discovered  in  1789 
by  Lieutenant  Shortland  of  the  British 
navy  on  his  voyage  from  Port  Jackson 
to  the  East  Indies.  He  followed  its 
southern  shores,  to  which  he  gave 
the  name  of  New  Georgia,  and  passed 
through  the  Straits  of  Bougainville, 
which  he  named  from  himself,  being 
apparently  ignorant  of  the  discoveries 
of  the  French  navigators.  The  chain 
of  large  islands  thus  seen  successively 
and  partially  by  Bougainville,  Sur- 
ville, and  Shortland,  and  which  stretch 
from  north-west  to  south-east,  between 
New  Guinea  and  the  New  Hebrides, 
are  unquestionably  the  Salomon  Is- 
lands of  the  early  Spanish  navigators. 
The  Egmont  Island  of  Carteret,  who 
sought  the  Salomon  Islands,  and  wto 


1774.] 

approached  them  very  closely  without 
being  aware  of  it,  may  be  considered 
&s  belonging  to  the  archipelago. 

"It  has  been  already  mentioned 
that  Bougainville  brought  home  with 
him  to  France  a  native  of  Otaheite 
named  Aootooroo.  When  the  fame  of 
Cook's  discoveries  began  to  excite  a 
general  interest  in  Europe,  Captain 
Marion  du  Fresne,  animated  with  a 
desire  to  emulate  the  glory  of  the 
English  navigator,  offered  to  take 
back  the  Otaheitean  to  his  native 
land  from  the  Isle  of  France  at  his 
own  expense.  The  offer  was  accepted, 
and  Kerguelen,  a  navigator  of  some 
note,  was  commissioned  to  carry 
Aootooroo  to  the  Isle  of  France,  and 
then  to  proceed  to  examine  more  care- 
fully the  southern  part  of  the  Atlantic 
Ocean.  The  Otaheitean  died  at  Mada- 
gascar, but  Marion  did  not  on  that 
account  relinquish  his  plans,  but  pro- 
ceeded in  the  ardent  hope  of  making 
some  important  discoveries.  He  ar- 
rived at  New  Zealand  without  any 
accident,  and  anchored  in  the  Bay  of 
Islands,  where  his  people  lived  on 
terms  of  familiarity,  and  apparently 
of  cordial  friendship  with  the  natives ; 
but  some  offence  was  given  unawares 
to  the  passionate  and  capricious  sav- 
ages. Marion  was  murdered,  with 
sixteen  officers  and  men  who  had  ac- 
companied him  on  shore.  Another 
party  of  eleven  men,  who  were  em- 
ployed cutting  wood  in  a  different 
quarter,  were  at  the  same  time  set 
upon  suddenly,  and  only  one  escaped 
to  the  ships  to  relate  the  dismal  late 
of  his  companions.  When  the  French 
landed  to  seek  the  remains  of  their 
unfortunate  commander,  the  natives 
insultingly  cried  to  them  from  their 
fastnesses,  '  Tacowry  (the  chief  of  the 
district)  has  killed  and  eaten  Marion.1 
After  this  melancholy  accident  the 
ships  returned  to  the  Isle  of  France 
under  the  command  of  M.  Ducles- 
ineur,  all  plans  of  discovery  being 
abandoned. 

"  Kerguelen,  in  the  meantime, 
sailed  from  the  Isle  of  France  in 
January  1772;  and,  on  the  12th  of 
February,  discovered  in  Lat.  50°  5'  S., 
high  land,  near  the  coast  of  which  he 


KERGUELEN'S  EXPLORATIONS, 
remained  six  days. 


67 


During  this  time 

lie  was  separated  from  the  corvette 
which  accompanied  him.  To  the 
bleak  and  sterile  shores  which  he  had 
discovered  he  gave  his  own  name ; 
took  formal  possession  of  them  for 
liis  sovereign  ;  and,  on  his  return  to 
France,  described  their  appearance  in 
such  glowing  terms,  that  Louis  XV., 
deceived  by  his  representations,  hung 
to  his  button-hole,  with  his  own 
band,  the  cross  of  St  Louis.  Ker- 
guelen's  enemies,  however,  insisted 
that  he  had  seen  ice  at  a  distance, 
and  mistaken  it  for  land ;  they  called 
on  him  to  show  some  of  the  produc- 
tions of  the  country  as  a  proof  of  his 
discovery,  and  insinuated  that  he  had 
purposely  got  rid  of  his  comrade 
that  he  might  be  at  liberty  to  indulge 
in  gross  fictions.  The  King,  however, 
afforded  him  the  means  of  refuting 
these  aspersions.  Kerguelen  sailed 
again  to  the  Southern  Atlantic,  and, 
in  December  1773,  again  discovered 
land  :  by  the  6th  of  January  following 
lie  had  traced  its  coasts  above  eighty 
leagues.  It  was,  however,  a  barren, 
inhospitable,  and,  in  general,  an  un- 
approachable shore,  affording  nothing 
that  could  satisfy  the  French  nation 
of  the  importance  of  his  discoveries. 
On  his  return  he  was  accused  of  cul- 
pable indifference  to  the  safety  of  his 
men  and  officers,  or  rather  of  pur- 
posely exposing  those  whom  he  dis- 
liked to  dangers  which  eventually 
proved  fatal.  Being  unable  to  excul- 
pate himself,  he  was  deprived  of  his 
rank  and  thrown  into  prison. 

"  No  expedition,  fitted  out  for  the 
purpose  of  maritime  discovery,  had 
ever  equalled  that  from  which  Captain 
Cook  had  now  returned,  in  the  mag- 
nitude and  arduous  nature  of  its 
peculiar  object ;  and'  none  had  ever 
so  completely  answered  its  intentions 
and  performed  its  task  with  so  little 
loss  of  life  or  injury  to  the  ships. 
The  success  of  Cook's  voyage  was 
gratifying  in  the  highest  degree  to 
those  who  had  patronised  the  under- 
taking. The  Earl  of  Sandwich  was 
still  at  the  head  of  the  Admiralty, 
and  felt  naturally  disposed  to  re- 
ward liberally  one  whose  courage  and 


COOK'S  VOYAGES. 


(TOY.  II 


skill  had  so  well  justified  his  expec- 
tations. Cook  was  immediately  raised 
to  the  rank  of  post  captain,  and  ob- 
tained a  more  substantial  mark  of 
favour,  being  appointed  one  of  the 
captains  of  Greenwich  Hospital,  which 
afforded  him  a  liberal  maintenance 
and  repose  from  his  professional  la- 
bours. In  February  1776,  only  a  few 
months  after  his  return,  he  was  elected 
a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society;  and 
on  the  evening  of  his  first  appearance 
there,  a  paper  was  read  containing  an 
account  of  the  method  he  had  taken 
to  preserve  the  health  of  the  crew  of 
his  Majesty's  ship,  the  Resolution, 
during  her  voyage  round  the  world. 
The  humane  and  successful  attention 
which  Cook  bestowed  on  his  ship's 
company  was  soon  after  rewarded  by 
the  Copley  medal,  a  prize  annually 
bestowed  by  the  Royal  Society  on 
the  author  of  the  best  experimental 
paper  of  the  year.  In  the  discourse 
which  the  president,  Sir  John  Pringle, 
delivered  on  the  occasion  of  bestowing 
the  medal,  he  uses  the  following  em- 
phatic expressions  : 

"  '  What  inquiry  can  be  so  useful 
as  that  which  has  for  its  object  the 
saving  the  lives  of  men  ?  and  whore 
shall  we  find  one  more  successful  than 
that  before  us  ?  Here  are  no  vain 
boastings  of  the  empiric,  nor  ingen- 
ious and  delusive  theories  of  the 
dogmatist ;  but  a  concise  and  artless, 
and  an  uncontested,  relation  of  the 
means  by  which,  under  divine  favour, 
Captain  Cook,  with  a  company  of  118 
men,  performed  a  voyage  of  three 
years  and  eighteen  days,  throughout 
all  the  climates  from  Lat.  52°  N.,  to 
71°  S.,  with  the  loss  of  only  one  man 
by  sickness.  I  would  now  inquire 
of  the  most  conversant  with  the  bills 
of  mortality,  whether,  in  the  most 
healthy  climate  and  the  best  condition 
of  life,  they  have  ever  found  so  small 
a  number  of  deaths  within  that  space 
of  time?  How  great  and  agreeable, 
then,  must  our  Surprise  be,  after  per- 
using the  histories  of  long  navigations 
in  former  days,  when  so  many  perish- 
ed by  marine  diseases,  to  find  the  air 
of  the  sea  acquitted  of  all  malignity  ; 
and,  in  fine,  that  a  voyage  round  the 


world  may  be  undertaken  with  less 
danger  perhaps  to  health  than  a  com- 
mon tour  in  Europe.' 

"  The  great  question  as  to  the  ex- 
istence of  a  southern  continent  was 
finally  set  at  rest  by  the  result  of  this 
voyage  ;  not  but  that  immense  tracks 
of  land  might  exist  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  the  South  Pole.  But  Cook's 
researches  reduced  the  limits  of  the 
southern  continent,  it'  it  exist  at  all 
within  such  high  latitudes,  as  com- 
pletely to  dispel  all  those  hopes  of 
unbounded  wealth  and  fertility  with 
which  imagination  had  hitherto  graced 
that  undiscovered  country.  One  grand 
problem  still  divided  the  opinions  of 
speculative  geographers,  and  eluded 
every  attempt  made  at  a  practical 
solution.  The  English  nation  had 
always  felt  a  peculiar  interest  in  the 
question  of  a  north-west  passage.  Their 
earliest  and  most  constant  efforts  in 
the  career  of  discovery  were  directed 
towards  Hudson's  and  Baffin's  Bays, 
in  search  of  a  communication  with 
the  Pacific  Ocean,  so  that  they  might 
sail  by  a  shorter  navigation  to  China 
and  Japan.  In  consequence  of  the 
disputes  between  Mr  Dobbs  and  Cap- 
tain Middleton,  respecting  the  feasi- 
bility of  the  scheme,  the  agitation  of 
the  question  was  tolerably  recent  in 
the  public  mind,  and,  Government 
adopting  the  views  of  the  former 
gentleman,  a  reward  of  £20,000  was 
offered  by  Act  of  Parliament  to  those 
who  should  discover  the  desired  pass- 
age. 

"The  British  Government,  capti- 
vated with  the  glory  that  might  result 
from  expeditions  destined  for  the  im- 
provement of  science,  resolved  now  to 
direct  its  exertions  towards  the  north- 
west ;  and,  as  a  preliminary  measure, 
Captain  Phipps  (afterwards  Lord  Mul- 
grave)  was  despatched  towards  the 
North  Pole,  to  ascertain  how  far  navi- 
gation was  practicable  in  that  quarter. 
After  struggling  obstinately  with  in- 
numerable difficulties  and  dangers, 
arising  from  the  quantity  of  ice  that 
beset  him,  he  was  obliged  to  return, 
after  having  penetrated  to  the  Lati- 
tude of  80°  30',  or  within  nine  degree* 
and  a  half  of  the  Terrestrial  Pole, 


FEB.  1776.]  PROPOSALS  FOR 

"  The  hope  of  finding  a  passage 
between  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific 
Oceans  was  not,  however,  abandoned; 
and  consultations  were  held  by  Lord 
Sandwich  with  Sir  Hugh  Palliser  and 
other  experienced  officers,  relative  to 
the  plan  which  should  be  adopted  in 
the  expedition,  and  to  the  choice 
of  a  commander.  Captain  Cook  had 
earned,  by  his  eminent  services,  the 
privilege  of  honourable  repose ;  and 
no  one  thought  of  imposing  on  him, 
for  the  third  time,  the  dangers  and 
hardships  of  a  voyage  of  discovery 
round  the  world:  but  being  invited 
to  dine  with  Lord  Sandwich,  in  order 
that  he  might  lend  the  light  of  his 
valuable  experience  to  the  various 
particulars  under  discussion,  he  was 
so  fired  with  the  observations  that 
were  made  on  the  benefits  likely  to 
redound  to  science,  to  navigation,  and 
the  intercourse  of  mankind,  from  the 
projected  expedition,  that  he  volun- 
tarily offered  to  take  the  command  of 


THIRD  VOYAGE.  6& 

it  himself.  This  proposal  was  too 
much  in  accordance  with  the  wishes 
of  Lord  Sandwich  to  be  rejected 
through  motives  of  mere  delicacy ; 
and  Captain  Cook  was  appointed  ac- 
cordingly to  the  command  of  the  ex- 
pedition, in  February  1776.  The  Act 
of  Parliament,  passed  in  1745,  which 
secured  a  reward  of  £20,000  to  ships 
belonging  to  any  of  his  Majesty's  sub- 
jects, which  should  make  the  proposed 
discovery,  was  now  also  amended  so 
as  to  include  ships  belonging  to  his 
Majesty,  and  proceeding  in  any  di- 
rection, for  the  old  Act  referred  only 
to  ships  which  should  find  a  pass- 
age through  Hudson's  Bay;  whereas 
Cook  was  directed  by  his  instruc- 
tions to  proceed  into  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  and  to  commence  his  re- 
searches on  the  north-west  coast  of 
America,  in  the  Latitude  of  65°,  and 
not  to  lose  time  in  exploring  rivers 
or  inlets  until  he  had  reached  that 
latitude." 


COOK'S  THIRD  YOYAGK1 


BOOK    L 

TRANSACTIONS  FROM  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  VOYAGE  TILL  OUR 
DEPARTURE  FROM  NEW  ZEALAND. 


CHAPTER  I. 

HAVING,  on  the  9th  day  of  February 
1776,  received  a  commission  to  com- 

1  The  account  of  this  voyage  was 
originally  published  in  1784,  in  three 
quarto  volumes,  the  first  and  second 
being  written  by  Cook  himself,  the 
third  by  Captain  King,  who  had 
sailed  as  one  of  the  Resolution's  lieu- 
tenants, but  returned  to  England  in 
command  of  the  Discovery.  The  title 
was  as  follows:  "A  Voyage  to  the 
Pacific  Ocean ;  undertaken  by  the 


mand  his  Majesty's  sloop  the  Resolu- 
tion, I  went  on  board  the  next  day, 
hoisted  the  pendant,  and  began  to 
enter  men.  At  the  same  time  the 

command  of  His  Majesty,  for  making 
Discoveries  in  the  Northern  Hemi- 
sphere, to  determine  the  Position  and 
Extent  of  the  West  Side  of  North 
America,  its  Distance  from  Asia,  and 
the  Practicability  of  a  Northern  Pass- 
age to  Europe.  Performed  under 
the  direction  of  Captains  Cook,  Clerke, 
and  Gore,  in  His  Majesty's  Ships  the 
Resolution  and  Discovery,  in  the 


70 


COOK'S  VOYAGES. 


[VOY.III.B.I.CH.I. 


Discovery,  of  300  tons  burthen,  was 
purchased  into  the  service,  and  the 
command  of  her  given  to  Captain 
Clerke,  who  had  been  my  second 
lieutenant  on  board  the  Resolution  in 
my  second  voyage  round  the  world, 
from  which  we  had  lately  returned. 
These  two  ships  were  at  this  time  in 
the  dock  at  Deptford,  under  the  hands 


Years  1776,  1777,  17/8,  1779,  and 
1780.  Published  by  Order  of  the 
Lords  Commissioners  of  the  Admir- 
alty." In  the  portion  of  the  work 
specially  ascribed  to  Captain  Cook, 
however,  there  are  many  valuable 
contributions  from  the  pen  of  Mr 
Anderson,  surgeon  of  the  Resolution, 
usually  on  the  physical  features  and 
natural  products  of  the  countries 
visited,  the  habits,  ethnography,  and 
language  of  the  inhabitants,  &c.  In 
more  than  one  instance  the  original 
editor  of  the  book  —  Dr  Douglas, 
Bishop  of  Salisbury,  who,  at  the  re- 
quest of  Lord  Sandwich,  undertook 
that  task — preferred  Mr  Anderson's 
notes  of  actual  incidents  to  Cook's 
own  story  ;  and  not  without  wisdom, 
as  any  one  will  admit  who  reads  the 
surgeon's  account  of  the  dances  and 
entertainments  shown  off  before  the 
white  strangers  at  Haapee  (B.  II., 
Ch.  V.),  and  at  Tongataboo  (B.  II., 
Ch.  VII.).  Necessities  of  space  have 
compelled  the  omission  of  many  pas- 
sages directly  ascribed  to  Mr  Ander- 
son by  Cook  himself;  but  in  every 
case  these  are  scientific  and  technical 
in  their  character,  and  the  lapse  of  a 
century  has  given  us  abundant  light 
on  many  matters  which  at  the  time 
of  Cook's  last  voyage  were  but  imper- 
fectly known,  or  subjects  of  crude  and 
vague  speculation.  Dr  Douglas  pre- 
fixed to  the  voyage  an  elaborate  intro- 
ductory treatise  on  the  possibility  of 
finding  a  north-east  passage  from  the 
Pacific  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  and 
also  enriched  the  volumes  with  many 
learned  notes,  comparatively  few  of 
which  have  been  retained  in  the  pre- 
sent edition,  as,  dealing  with  matters  of 
controversy  long  since  settled,  and  with 
records  of  travel  all  but  totally  forgot- 
ten, they  could  only  confuse  the  reader. 


of  the  shipwrights,  being  ordered  to  be 
equipped  to  make  further  discoveries  in 
the  Pacific  Ocean,  under  my  direction. 

On  the  9th  of  March  the  Resolution 
was  hauled  out  of  dock  into  the  river, 
where  we  completed  her  rigging,  and 
took  on  board  the  stores  and  provi- 
sions requisite  for  a  voyage  of  such 
duration.  Both  ships,  indeed,  were 
supplied  with  as  much  of  every  neces- 
sary article  as  we  could  conveniently 
stow,  and  with  the  best  of  every  kind 
that  could  be  procured.  And  besides 
this,  everything  that  had  been  found 
by  the  experience  acquired  during  our 
former  extensive  voyages  to  be  of  any 
utility  in  preserving  the  health  of  sea- 
men, was  supplied  in  abundance.1 

It  was  our  intention  to  have  sailed 
to  Long  Reach  on  the  Ctli  of  May, 
when  a  pilot  came  on  board  to  carry 
us  thither  ;  but  it  was  the  29th  be- 
fore the  wind  would  permit  us  to 
move,  and  the  30th  before  we  arrived 
at  that  station,  where  our  artillery, 
powder,  shot,  and  other  ordnance 
stores  were  received.  While  we  lay 
in  Long  Reach  thus  employed,  the 
Earl  of  Sandwich,  Sir  Hugh  Palliser, 
and  others  of  the  Board  of  Admiralty, 
as  the  last  mark  of  the  very  great 
attention  they  had  all  along  shown  to 
this  equipment,  paid  us  a  visit  on  the 
8th  of  June,  to  examine  whether 
everything  had  been  completed  con- 
formably to  their  intentions  and 
orders,  and  to  the  satisfaction  of  all 
who  were  to  embark  in  the  voyage. 
They  and  several  other  noblemen  and 
gentlemen,  their  friends,  honoured  me 
with  their  company  at  dinner  on  that 
day  ;  and  on  their  coming  on  board, 
and  also  on  their  going  ashore,  we 
saluted  them  with  seventeen  guns, 
and  three  cheers. 

With  the  benevolent  view  of  con- 
veying some  permanent  benefit  to  the 
inhabitants  of  Otaheite,  and  of  the 


1  Contrast  the  excellence  of  Cook's 
equipment  and  the  perfect  success  of 
his  arrangements  for  securing  the 
health  of  his  ships'  companies,  with 
the  wretched  plight  in  which  Anson 
left  port  thirty-six  years  before,  and 
the  miserable  fate  of  his  crews. 


Jmra  1776.]   EQUIPMENT  OF  RESOLUTION  AND  DISCOVERY.       71 


other  islands  in  the  Pacific  Ocean, 
whom  we  might  happen  to  visit,  his 
Majesty  having  commanded  some  use- 
ful animals  to  be  carried  out,  we  took 
on  board,  on  the  10th,  a  bull,  two 
cows,  with  their  calves,  and  some 
sheep,  with  hay  and  corn  for  their 
subsistence,  intending  to  add  to  these 
other  useful  animals  when  I  should 
arrive  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  I 
was  also,  from  the  same  laudable  mo- 
tives, furnished  with  a  sufficient  quan- 
tity of  such  of  our  European  garden 
seeds  as  could  not  fail  to  be  a  valuable 
present  to  our  newly-discovered  is- 
lands, by  adding  fresh  supplies  of  food 
to  their  own  vegetable  productions. 
Many  other  articles  calculated  to  im- 
prove the  condition  of  our  friends  in 
the  other  hemisphere  in  various  ways, 
were  at  the  same  time  delivered  to  us 
by  order  of  the  Board  of  Admiralty. 
And  both  ships  were  provided  with  a 
proper  assortment  of  iron  tools  and 
trinkets,  as  the  means  of  enabling  us 
to  traffic,  and  to  cultivate  a  friendly 
intercourse  with  the  inhabitants  of 
such  new  countries  as  we  might  be 
fortunate  enough  to  meet  with. 

The  same  humane  attention  was 
extended  to  our  own  wants.  Some 
additional  clothing,  adapted  to  a  cold 
climate,  was  ordered  for  our  crews ; 
and  nothing  was  denied  to  us  that 
could  be  supposed  in  the  least  con- 
ducive to  health,  or  even  to  conven- 
ience. Nor  did  the  extraordinary 
care  of  those  at  the  head  of  the  naval 
department  stop  here.  They  were 
equally  solicitous  to  afford  us  every 
assistance  towards  rendering  our 
voyage  of  public  utility.  According- 
ly, we  received  on  board,  next  day, 
several  astronomical  and  nautical  in- 
struments, which  the  Board  of  Longi- 
tude intrusted  to  me  and  to  Mr  King, 
my  second  lieutenant ;  we  having 
engaged  to  that  Board  to  make  all 
the  necessary  observations  during  the 
Toyage  for  the  improvement  of  astro- 
nomy and  navigation,  and,  by  our 
joint  labours,  to  supply  the  place  of  a 
professed  observator. 

Mr  Anderson,  my  surgeon,  who,  to 
skill  in  his  immediate  profession, 
added  great  proficiency  in  natural  his- 


tory, was  as  willing  as  he  was  well 
qualified  to  describe  everything  in 
that  branch  of  science  which  should 
occur  worthy  of  notice.  As  he  had 
already  visited  the  South  Sea  islands 
in  the  same  ship,  and  been  of  singular 
service  by  enabling  me  to  enrich  my  re- 
lation of  that  voyage  with  various  useful 
remarks  on  men  and  things,  I  reason- 
ably expected  to  derive  considerable  as- 
sistance from  him,  in  recording  our  new 
proceedings.  I  had  several  young  men 
amongst  my  sea-officers,  who,  under 
my  direction,  could  be  usefully  em- 
ployed in  constructing  charts,  in  tak- 
ing views  of  the  coasts  and  headlands 
near  which  we  should  pass,  and  in 
drawing  plans  of  the  bays  and  har- 
bours in  which  we  should  anchor. 

Every  preparation  being  now  com- 
pleted, I  received  an  order  to  proceed 
to  Plymouth,  and  to  take  the  Dis- 
covery under  my  command.  I  ac- 
cordingly gave  Captain  Clerke  two 
orders  ;  one  to  put  himself  under  my 
command,  and  the  other  to  carry  his 
ship  round  to  Plymouth.  On  the 
15th,  the  Resolution  sailed  from  Long 
Reach,  with  the  Disco  very  in  company, 
and  the  same  evening  they  anchored 
at  the  Nore.  Next  day  the  Discovery 
proceeded  in  obedience  to  my  order ; 
but  the  Resolution  was  ordered  to  re- 
main at  the  Nore  till  I  should  join 
her,  being  at  this  time  in  London. 

As  we  were  to  touch  at  Otaheite 
and  the  Society  Islands  in  our  way  to 
the  intended  scene  of  our  fresh  opera- 
tions, it  had  been  determined  not  to 
omit  this  opportunity  (the  only  one 
ever  likely  to  happen)  of  carrying 
Om  ai  back  to  his  native  country. 

Omai  left  London  with  a  mixture 
of  regret  and  satisfaction.  When  we 
talked  about  England,  and  about  those 
who,  during  his  stay,  had  honoured 
him  with  their  protection  or  friend- 
ship, 1  could  observe  that  his  spirits 
were  sensibly  affected,  and  that  it  was 
with  difficulty  he  could  refrain  from 
tears.  But  the  instant  the  conversa- 
tion turned  to  his  own  islands,  his 
eyes  began  to  sparkle  with  joy.  He 
was  deeply  impressed  with  a  sense  of 
the  good  treatment  he  had  met  with 
in  England,  and  entertained  the  high- 


72  COOK'S  VOYAGES. 

est  ideas  of  the  country  and  of  the 
people.  But  the  pleasing  prospect  he 
now  had  before  him  of  returning  home, 
loaded  with  what  he  well  knew  would 
be  esteemed  invaluable  treasures  there, 
and  the  flattering  hope  which  the  pos- 
session of  these  gave  him  of  attaining 
*o  a  distinguished  superiority  amongst 
his  countrymen,  were  considerations 
which  operated  by  degrees  to  suppress 
every  uneasy  sensation ;  and  he  seemed 
to  be  q\iite  happy  when  he  got  on 
board  the  ship.  He  was  furnished 
by  his  Majesty  with  an  ample  provi- 
sion of  every  article  which,  during 
our  intercourse  with  his  country,  we 
had  observed  to  be  in  any  estimation 
there,  cither  as  useful  or  as  orna- 
mental. He  had,  besides,  received 
many  presents  of  the  same  nature  from 
Lord  Sandwich,  Mr1  Banks,  and  several 
other  gentlemen  and  ladies  of  his  ac- 
quaintance. In  short,  every  method 
had  been  employed,  both  during  his 
abode  in  England,  and  at  his  depar- 
ture, to  make  him  the  instrument  of 
conveying  to  the  inhabitants  of  the 
islands  of  the  Pacific  Ocean  the  most 
exalted  opinion  of  the  greatness  and 
generosity  of  the  British  nation. 

On  the  25th,  about  noon,  we  weighed 
anchor,  and  made  s<iil  for  the  Downs, 
through  the  Queen's  Channel,  with  a 
gentle  breeze  at  NW.  by  W.  At 
nine  in  the  evening  we  anchored,  with 
the  North  Foreland  bearing  S.  by  E., 
and  Margate  Point  SW.  by  S.  Next 
morning,  at  2  o'clock,  we  weighed 
and  stood  round  the  Foreland.  At  8 
o'clock  the  same  morning,  we  anchored 
in  the  Downs.  Two  boats  had  been 
built  for  us  at  Deal,  and  I  immediate- 
ly sent  on  shore  for  them.  I  was  told 
that  many  people  had  assembled  there 
to  see  Omai ;  but,  to  their  great  dis- 
appointment, he  did  not  land.  Hav- 
ing received  the  boats  on  board,  and 
a  light  breeze  at  SSE.  springing  up, 
we  got  under  sail  the  next  day  at  2 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  But  the 
breeze  soon  died  away,  and  we  were 
obliged  to  anchor  again  till  10  o'clock 
at  night.  We  then  weighed,  with 
the  wind  at  east,  and  proceeded  down 


Afterwards  Sir  Joseph. 


[VoY.IILB.I.Cir.I. 

the  Channel.  On  the  30th,  at  3 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  we  anchored 
in  Plymouth  Sound,  where  the  Dis- 
covery had  arrived  only  three  days 
before.  I  saluted  Admiral  Amherst, 
whose  flag  was  flying  on  board  the 
Ocean,  with  thirteen  guns,  and  he 
returned  the  compliment  with  eleven. 
It  was  the  first  object  of  our  care,  on 
arriving  at  Plymouth,  to  replace  the 
water  and  provisions  that  we  had  ex- 
pended, and  to  receive  on  board  a 
supply  of  port  wine.  This  was  the 
employment  which  occupied  us  on  the 
1st  and  2d  of  July. 

It  could  not  but  occur  to  us  as  a 
singular  and  affecting  circumstance, 
that  at  the  very  instant  of  our  de- 
parture upon  a  royage,  the  object 
of  which  wns  to  benefit  Europe  by 
making  fresh  discoveries  in  North 
America,  there  should  be  the  unhappy 
necessity  of  employing  others  of  his 
Majesty's  ships,  and  of  conveying 
numerous  bodies  of  land  forces,  to 
secure  the  obedience  of  those  parts  of 
that  continent  which  had  been  dis- 
covered and  settled  by  our  country- 
men in  the  last  century.  On  the  6th, 
his  Majesty's  ships  Diamond,  Ambus- 
cade, and  Unicorn,  with  a  fleet  of 
transports,  consisting  of  sixty-two 
sail,  bound  to  America,  with  the  last 
division  of  the  Hessian  troops,  and 
some  horse,2  were  forced  into  the 
Sound  by  a  strong  north-west  wind. 
On  the  8th,  I  received  by  express, 
my  instructions  for  the  voyage,  and 
an  order  to  proceed  to  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope  with  the  Resolution.  I 
was  also  directed  to  leave  an  order 
for  Captain  Clerke  to  follow  us,  as 
soon  as  he  should  join  his  ship ;  he  be- 
ing, at  this  time,  detained  in  London. 

The  Resolution  was  fitted  out  with 
the  same  complement  of  officers  and 
men  she  had  before  ;3  and  the  Dis- 
covery's establishment  varied  from 
that  of  the  Adventure,  in  the  single 
instance  of  her  having  no  marine 


2  To  reinforce  Sir  William  Howe, 
then   confronting  General  Washing- 
ton, near  New  York. 

3  In  setting  out  on  the  second  voy- 
age in  1772. 


JULY  1776.]    CREWS  OF  RESOLUTION  AND  DISCOVERY, 
officer  on  board.     This  arrangement 


was  to  be  finally  completed  at  Ply- 
mouth ;  and,  on  the  9th,  we  received 
the  party  of  marines  allotted  for  our 
voyage.  Colonel  Bell,  who  com- 
manded the  division  at  this  port, 
gave  me  such  men  for  the  detach- 


ment  as  I  had  reason  to  be  satisfied 
with.  And  the  supernumerary  sea- 
men, occasioned  by  this  reinforce- 
ment, being  turned  over  into  the 
Ocean  man-of-war,  our  several  com- 
plements remained  fixed,  as  repre- 
sented in  the  following  table  : 


RESOLUTION". 

DISCOVERY. 

Officers  and  Men. 

No. 

Officers'  Names. 

No. 

Officers'  Names. 

Captain, 

1 

James  Cook.  . 

1 

Charles  Clerke. 

Lieutenants,  .         . 

3 

John  Gore.     . 

2 

James  Burney. 

James  King.  . 

John  Rickman. 

John  Williamson. 

Master, 

1 

William  Bligh.  l 

1 

Thomas  Edgar. 

Boatswain,     . 

1 

William  Ewin. 

1 

Eneas  Atkins. 

Carpenter. 
Gunner, 

1 
1 

James  Clevely. 
Robert  Anderson. 

1 
1 

Peter  Reynolds. 
William  Peckover. 

Surgeon, 

1 

William  Anderson 

1 

John  Law. 

Master's  Mates, 

3 

2 

Midshipmen, 

6 

4 

Surgeon's  Mutes,     . 
Captain's  Clerk,     . 

2 

1 

2 
1 

Master  at  Arms, 

1 

1 

Corporal,        . 

1 

Armourer,      •         . 

] 

1 

Ditto  Mate,    . 

1 

1 

Sailmaker, 

1 

1 

Ditto  Mate,    . 

1 

1 

Boatswain's  Mates, 

3 

2 

Carpenter's  Ditto,  . 

3 

2 

Gunner's  Ditto, 

2 

1 

Carpenter's  Crew,  . 

4 

4 

Cook,     .         .         . 

1 

1 

Ditto  Mate,    . 

1 

Quarter-Masters,    . 

6 

4 

Able  Seamen,         „ 

45 

33 

Marines. 

Lieutenant, 

1 

Molesworth  Philips. 

Sergeant, 

1 

.... 

1 

Corporals, 

2 

.... 

1 

Drummer, 

1 

.                       «                       0                       . 

1 

Privates, 

15 

•             •             •             . 

8 

Total, 

112 

80 

1  Afterwards  captain  of  the  Bounty,  famous  for  his  voyage  of  nearly  4000 
miles  in  an  open  boat,  into  which  he  and  twenty  of  his  crew  had  been  £wced 
after  the  mutiny  on  board  that  vessel. 


74 

On  the  10th,  the  commissioner  and 
pay-clerks  came  on  board,  and  paid 
the  officers  and  crew  up  to  the  30th 
of  last  month.  The  petty  officers  and 
seamen  had,  besides,  two  months'  wages 
in  advance.  Such  indulgence  to  the 
latter,  is  no  more  than  what  is  cus- 
tomary in  the  navy.  But  the  pay- 
ment of  what  was  due  to  the  superior 
officers  was  humanely  ordered  by  the 
Admiralty,  in  consideration  of  our 

ruliar  situation,  that  we  might 
better  able  to  defray  the  very 
great  expense  of  furnishing  ourselves 
with  a  stock  of  necessaries  for  a  voy- 
age which,  probably,  would  be  of 
unusual  duration,  and  to  regions 
where  no  supply  could  be  expected. 

Nothing  now  obstructing  my  de- 
parture but  a  contrary  wind,  which 
blew  strong  at  SW.,  in  the  morning 
of  the  llth,  I  delivered  into  the 
hands  of  Mr  Burney,  first  lieutenant 
of  the  Discovery,  Captain  Clerke's 
sailing  orders,  a  copy  of  which  I  also 
left  with  the  officer  commanding  his 
Majesty's  ships  at  Plymouth,  to  be 
delivered  to  the  captain  immediately 
on  his  arrival.  In  the  afternoon,  the 
wind  moderating,  we  weighed  with 
ebb,  and  got  farther  out,  beyond  all 
the  shipping  in  the  Sound,  where, 
after  making  an  unsuccessful  attempt 
to  get  to  sea,  we  were  detained  most 
of  the  following  day,  which  was  em- 
ployed in  receiving  on  board  a  supply 
of  water ;  and,  by  the  same  vessel 
that  brought  it,  all  the  empty  casks 
were  returned.  We  weighed  again  at 
eight  in  the  evening,  and  stood  out  of 
the  Sound,  witha  gentle  breeze  atNW. 
byW. 


CHAPTER  II. 


WE  had  not  been  long  out  of  Ply- 
mouth Sound  before  the  wind  came 
more  westerly,  and  blew  fresh,  so  that 
we  were  obliged  to  ply1  down  the 
Channel ;  and  it  was  not  till  the  14th, 

1  To  "ply,"  in  nautical  terminology, 
is  to  boat  to  windward,  or  sail  against 
the  direction  of  the  wind  by  alternate 
tacks. 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.          [ Vo  r.  III.  B.  1.  CH.  II. 

at  eight  in  the  evening,  that  we  were 
off  the  Lizard.  On  the  16th,  at  noon, 
St  Agnes's  Lighthouse,  on  the  Isles 
of  Scilly,  bore  NW.  by  W.,  distant 
seven  or  eight  miles.  On  the  17tha 
and  18th  we  were  off  Ushant.  With 
a  strong  gale  at  S.  on  the  19th,  we 
stood  to  the  westward  till  8  o'clock  in 
the  morning,  when,  the  wind  shifting 
to  the  W.  and  NW.,  we  tacked  and 
stretched  to  the  southward.  At  this 
time  we  saw  nine  sail  of  large  ships, 
which  we  judged  to  be  French  men- 
of-war.  They  took  no  particular 
notice  of  us,  nor  we  of  them.  At  10 
o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the  22d,  we 
saw  Cape  Ortegal.  After  two  days  of 
calm  weather  we  passed  Cape  Finis- 
terre,  on  the  afternoon  of  the  24th, 
with  a  fine  gale  at  NNE.  On  the 
30th,  at  six  minutes  and  thirty-eight 
seconds  past  10  o'clock  at  night,  ap- 
parent time,  I  observed  with  a  night 
telescope  the  moon  totally  eclipsed. 
By  the  ephemeris,3  the  same  happened 
at  Greenwich  at  nine  minutes  past  11 
o'clock,  the  difference  being  one  hour, 
two  minutes,  and  twenty-two  seconds, 
or  1 5°  35'  30"  of  Longitude.  No  other 
observation  could  be  made  on  this 
eclipse,  as  the  moon  was  hid  behind 
the  clouds  the  greater  part  of  the 
time  ;  and,  in  particular,  when  the 
beginning  and  end  of  total  darkness 
and  the  end  of  the  eclipse  happened. 
Finding  that  we  had  not  hay  and 
corn  sufficient  for  the  subsistence  of 
the  stock  of  animals  on  board  till  our 
arrival  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  I 
determined  to  touch  at  Teneriffe  to 
get  a  supply  of  these  and  of  the  usual 
refreshments  for  ourselves,  thinking 
that  island,  for  such  purposes,  better 
adapted  than  Madeira.  At  four  in  the 
afternoon  of  the  31st  we  saw  Teneriffe, 
and  steered  for  the  eastern  part.  At 


8  It  appears  from  Captain  Cook's 
log-book  that  he  began  his  judicious 
operations  for  preserving  the  health 
of  his  crew  very  early  in  the  voyage. 
On  the  17th  the  ship  was  smoked  be- 
tween decks  with  gunpowder.  The 
spare  sails  also  were  then  well  aired. — 
Note  in  Original  Edition. 

3  Nautical  almanac. 


AUG.  1776.] 


IN  THE  ROAD  OF  SANTA  CRUZ. 


76 


nine,  being  near  it,  we  hauled  up,  and 
stood  off  and  on  during  the  night.  At 
daylight  on  the  morning  of  the  1st  of 
August  we  sailed  round  the  east  point 
of  the  island,  and  about  8  o'clock  an- 
chored on  the  SE.  side  of  it,  in  the  road 
of  Santa  Cruz,  in  twenty-three  fathoms 
water,  the  bottom  sand  and  ooze. 

No  sooner  had  we  anchored  than  we 
were  visited  by  the  master  of  the 
port,  who  satisfied  himself  with  ask- 
ing the  ship's  name.  Upon  his  leav- 
ing us,  1  sent  an  officer  ashore  to 
present  my  respects  to  the  Governor, 
and  to  ask  his  leave  to  take  in  water, 
and  to  purchase  such  articles  as  we 
were  in  want  of.  All  this  he  granted 
with  the  greatest  politeness,  and  soon 
after  sent  an  officer  on  board  to  com- 
pliment me  on  my  arrival.  In  the 
afternoon  I  waited  upon  him  in  per- 
son, accompanied  by  some  of  my 
officers  ;  and,  before  I  returned  to  my 
ship,  bespoke  some  corn  and  straw  for 
the  live  stock  ;  ordered  a  quantity  of 
wine  from  MrM'Carrick,  the  contrac- 
tor ;  and  made  an  agreement  with  the 
master  of  a  Spanish  boat  to  supply  us 
with  water,  as  I  found  that  we  could 
not  do  it  ourselves. 

Were  we  to  judge  from  the  appear- 
ance of  the  country  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Santa  Cruz,  it  might  be  con- 
cluded that  Teneriffe  is  a  barren  spot, 
insufficient  to  maintain  even  its  own 
inhabitants.  The  ample  supplies,  how- 
ever, which  we  received,  convinced  us 
that  they  had  enough  to  spare  for 
visitors.  Besides  wine,  which  is  the 
chief  produce  of  the  island,  beef 
may  be  had  at  a  moderate  price.  The 
oxen  are  small  and  bony,  and  weigh 
about  ninety  pounds  a  quarter.  The 
meat  is  but  lean,  and  was,  at  present, 
sold  for  half  a  bit  (threepence  sterling) 
a  pound.  I,  unadvisedly,  bought  the 
bullocks  alive,  and  paid  considerably 
more.  Hogs,  sheep,  goats,  and  poul- 
try, are  likewise  to  be  bought  at  the 
same  moderate  rate ;  and  fruits  are 
in  great  plenty.  At  this  time  we  had 
grapes,  figs,  pears,  mulberries,  plan- 
tains, and  musk  melons.  There  is  a 
variety  of  other  fruits  produced  here, 
though  not  in  season  at  this  time.  Their 
pumpkins,  onions,  and  potatoes,  are  ex- 


ceedingly good  of  their  kind,  and  keep 
better  at  sea  than  any  I  ever  before 
met  with.  The  Indian  corn,  which  is 
also  their  produce,  cost  me  about  three 
shillings  and  sixpence  a  bushel ;  and 
the  fruits  and  roots  were,  in  general, 
very  cheap.  They  have  not  any  plen- 
tiful supply  of  fish  from  the  adjoining 
sea,  but  a  very  considerable  fishery  is 
carried  on  by  their  vessels  upon  the 
coast  of  Barbary,  and  the  produce  of 
it  sells  at  a  reasonable  price.  Upon 
the  whole,  I  found  Teneriffe  to  be  a 
more  eligible  place  than  Madeira  for 
ships  bound  on  long  voyages  to  touch 
at,  though  the  wine  of  the  latter,  ac- 
cording to  my  taste,  is  as  much  supe- 
rior to  that  of  the  former  as  strong 
beer  is  to  small.  To  compensate  for 
this,  the  difference  of  prices  is  con- 
siderable, for  the  best  Teneriffe  wine 
was  now  sold  for  twelve  pounds  a 

Sipe,  whereas  a  pipe  of  the  best  Ma- 
eira  would  have  cost  considerably 
more  than  double  that  sum.1 


CHAPTER  III. 

HAVING  completed  our  water,  and 
got  on  board  every  other  thing  we 
wanted  at  Teneriffe,  we  weighed  an- 
chor on  the  4th  of  August,  and  pro- 
ceeded on  our  voyage,  with  a  fine  gale 
at  NE.  At  9  o'clock  in  the  evening 
on  the  10th,a  we  saw  the  Island  of 


1  The  remainder  of  this  Chapter, 
which  is   omitted,    is  occupied  with 
a  technical   account  of  observations 
for  fixing  the  longitude  of  Teneriffe, 
and  with  a  description,  from  the  pen 
of  Mr  Anderson,  the  surgeon,  of  the 
natural  features  and  products  of  the 
island. 

2  As  a  proof  of  Captain  Cook's  at- 
tention, both  to  the  discipline  and  to 
the  health  of  his  ship's  company,  it 
may  be  worth  while  to  observe  here, 
that  it  appears  from  his  log-book  he 
exercised  them  at  great    guns  and 
small  arms,  and  cleared  and  smoked 
the  ship  below  decks,  twice  in  tho 
interval  between  the  4th  and  the  10th 
of  August. — Note  in  Original  Edition* 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.  [VoY.III.B.I.CH.III. 


Bonavista  bearing  S.,  distant  little 
more  than  a  league  ;  though,  at  this 
time,  we  thought  ourselves  much 
farther  off;  but  this  proved  a  mistake. 
For,  after  hauling  to  the  eastward  till 
12  o'clock,  to  clear  the  sunken  rocks 
that  lie  about  a  league  from  the  SE. 
point  of  the  island,  we  found  ourselves, 
at  that  time,  close  upon  them,  and  did 
but  just  weather  the  breakers.  Our 
situation,  for  a  few  minutes,  was  very 
alarming.  I  did  not  choose  to  sound,  as 
that  might  have  heightened  thedanger 
without  any  possibility  of  lessening  it. 
As  soon  as  we  were  clear  of  the  rocks, 
we  steered  SSW.  till  daybreak  next 
morning,  and  then  hauled  to  the  west- 
ward, to  go  between  Bonavista  and 
the  Isle  of  Mayo  ;  intending  to  look 
into  Port  Praya  for  the  Discovery,  as 
I  had  told  Captain  Clerke  that  I 
should  touch  there,  and  did  not  know 
how  soon  he  might  sail  after  me.  At 
one  in  the  afternoon,  we  saw  the  rocks 
that  lie  on  the  S\V.  side  of  Bonavista, 
bearing  SE.,  distant  three  or  four 
leagues.  Next  morning  at  6  o'clock 
the  Isle  of  Mayo  bore  SSE.,  distant 
about  five  leagues.  In  this  situation 
we  sounded,  and  found  ground  at 
sixty  fathoms.  .  .  . 

At  9  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the 
13th,  we  arrived  before  Port  Praya, 
in  the  Island  of  St  Jago,  where  we 
saw  two  Dutch  East  India  ships  and 
a  small  brigantine  at  anchor.  As  the 
Discovery  was  not  there,  and  we  had 
expended  but  little  water  in  our  pass- 
age from  Teneritfe,  I  did  not  think 
proper  to  go  in,  but  stood  to  the  south- 
ward. The  day  after  we  left  the  Cape 
de  Verd  Islands,  we  lost  the  ^  E.trade- 
wind  ;  but  did  not  get  that  which 
blows  from  the  SE.  till  the  30th, 
when  we  were  in  the  Latitude  of 
2°N.,  and  in  the  25th  degree  of  W. 
Longitude.  During  this  interval,  the 
wind  was  mostly  in  the  SW.  quarter. 
Sometimes  it  blew  fresh,  and  in  squalls ; 
but  for  the  most  part  a  gentle  breeze. 
The  calms  were  few,  and  of  short  dura- 
tion. Between  the  Latitude  of  1 2°  and 
of  7°  N.,  the  weather  was  generally 
dark  and  gloomy,  with  frequent  rains, 
which  enabled  us  to  save  as  much 
water  as  filled  most  of  our  empty  casks. 


These  rains,  and  the  close  sultry 
weather  accompanying  them,  too  often 
bring  on  sickness  in  this  passage. 
Every  bad  consequence,  at  least,  is  to 
be  apprehended  from  them  ;  and  com- 
manders of  ships  cannot  be  too  much, 
upon  their  guard,  by  purifying  the 
air  between  decks  with  fires  and  smoke, 
and  by  obliging  the  people  to  dry  their 
clothes  at  every  opportunity.  These 
precautions  were  constantly  observed 
on  board  the  Eesolution1  and  Discov- 
ery ;  and  we  certainly  profited  by  them, 
for  we  had  now  fewer  sick  than  on 
either  of  my  former  voyages.  We 
had,  however,  the  mortification  to 
find  our  ship  exceedingly  leaky  in 
all  her  upper  works.  The  hot  and 
sultry  weather  we  had  just  passed 
through  had  opened  her  seams,  whicr 
had  been  badly  calked  at  first,  s< 
wide,  that  they  admitted  the  rait 
water  through  as  it  fell.  There  was 
hardly  a  man  that  could  lie  dry  ii 
his  bed  ;  and  the  officers  in  the  gun 
room  were  all  driven  out  of  theii 
cabins,  by  the  water  that  came  through 
the  sides.  The  sails  in  the  sail-room 
got  wet ;  and  before  we  had  weather 
to  dry  them,  many  of  them  were  much 
d&ntaged,  and  a  great  expense  of  can- 
vas and  of  time  became  necessary  to 
make  them  in  some  degree  serviceable. 
Having  experienced  the  same  defect 
in  our  sail-rooms  on  my  late  voyage, 
it  had  been  represented  to  the  yard 
officers,  who  undertook  to  remove  it. 
But  it  did  not  appear  to  me  that  any- 
thing had  been  done  to  remedy  the 
complaint.  To  repair  these  defects  the 
calkers  were  set  to  work,  as  soon  as  we 
got  into  fair  settled  weather,  to  calk  the 
decks  and  inside  weather  works  of  the 


1  The  particulars  are  mentioned  in 
his  log-book.  On  the  14th  of  August, 
a  fire  was  made  in  the  well,  to  air  the 
ship  below.  On  the  15th,  the  spare 
sails  were  aired  upon  deck,  and  a  fire 
made  to  air  the  sail-room.  On  the 
17th,  cleaned  and  smoked  betwixt 
decks,  and  the  bread-room  aired  with 
fires.  On  the  21st,  cleaned  and  smoked 
betwixt  decks  ;  and  on  the  22d,  the 
men's  bedding  was  spread  on  deck  ta 
air. — Note  in  Original  Edition. 


OCT.  1776.]  ARRIVAL  AT 

ship  ;  for  I  would  not  trust  them  over 
the  sides  while  we  were  at  sea. 

On  the  1st  of  September l  we  crossed 
the  Equator  in  the  Longitude  of 
27°  33'  W.,  with  a  fine  gale  at  SE. 
by  S. ;  and  notwithstanding  my  ap- 
prehensions of  falling  in  with  the 
co:ist  of  Brazil  in  stretching  to  the 
SW.,  I  kept  the  ship  a  full  point 
from  the  wind.  However,  I  found 
my  fears  were  ill  grounded  ;  for  on 
drawing  near  that  coast,  we  met  with 
the  wind  more  and  more  easterly; 
so  that,  by  the  time  we  were  in  the 
Latitude  of  10°  S.,  we  could  make  a 
south-easterly  course  good.  On  the 
8th,  we  were  in  the  Latitude  of  8°  57' 
S. ;  which  is  a  little  to  the  southward 
of  Cape  St  Augustine,  on  the  coast  of 
Brazil.  Our  longitude,  deduced  from 
a  very  great  number  of  lunar  observa- 
tions, was  34°  16'  "W. ;  and  by  the 
watch  34°  47'.  The  former  is  1°  43', 
and  the  latter  2°  14'  more  westerly 
than  the  Island  of  Fernando  de  Ko- 
ronha,  the  situation  of  which  was 
pretty  well  determined  during  my 
late  voyage.  Hence  I  concluded  that 
we  could  not  now  be  farther  from  the 
continent  than  twenty  or  thirty  leagues 
at  most ;  and  perhaps  not  much  less, 
as  we  neither  had  soundings,  nor  any 
other  signs  of  land. 

We  proceeded  on  our  voyage,  with- 
out meeting  with  anything  of  note, 
till  the  6th  of  October.  Being  then 
in  the  Latitude  of  35°  15'  S.,  Longi- 
tude 7°  45'  W.,  we  met  with  light 
airs  and  calms  by  turns,  for  three 
days  successively.  We  had,  for  some 
days  before,  seen  albatrosses,  pinta- 
does,  and  other  petrels  ;  and  here  we 
saw  three  penguins,  which  occasioned 
us  to  sound,  but  we  found  no  ground 
with  a  line  of  150  fathoms.  We  put 
a  boat  in  the  water,  and  shot  a  few 


1  The  afternoon,  as  appears  from 
Mr  Anderson's  Journal,  was  spent  in 
performing  the  old  and  ridiculous 
ceremony  of  ducking  those  who  had 
not  crossed  the  Equator  before.  Though 
Captain  Cook  did  not  suppress  the 
custom,  he  thought  it  too  trifling  to 
deserve  the  least  mention  of  it  in  his 
journal,  or  even  in  his  log-book. 


THE  CAPE.  77 

birds ;  one  of  which  was  a  black 
petrel,  about  the  size  of  a  crow,  and, 
except  as  to  the  bill  and  feet,  very 
like  one.  It  had  a  few  white  feathers 
under  the  throat ;  and  the  under-side 
of  the  quill -feathers  was  of  an  ash- 
colour.  All  the  other  feathers  were 
jet  black,  as  also  the  bill  and  legs. 
On  the  8th,  in  the  evening,  one  of 
those  birds  which  sailors  call  noddies 
settled  on  our  rigging  and  was  caught. 
It  was  something  larger  than  an  Eng- 
lish blackbird,  and  nearly  as  black, 
except  the  upper  part  of  the  head, 
which  was  white,  looking  as  if  it  were 
powdered  ;  the  whitest  feathers  grow- 
ing out  from  the  base  of  the  upper 
bill,  from  which  they  gradually  as- 
sumed a  darker  colour,  to  about  the 
middle  of  the  upper  part  of  the  neck, 
where  the  white  shade  was  lost  in  the 
black,  without  being  divided  by  any 
line.  It  was  web-footed  ;  had  black 
legs  and  a  black  bill,  which  was  long, 
and  not  unlike  that  of  a  curlew.  It 
is  said  these  birds  never  fly  far  from 
land.  We  knew  of  none  nearer  the 
station  we  were  in,  than  Gough's  or 
Richmond  Island,  from  which  our 
distance  could  not  be  less  than  100 
leagues.  But  it  must  be  observed 
that  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  to  the  south- 
ward of  this  latitude,  has  been  but 
little  frequented  ;  so  that  there  may 
be  more  islands  there  than  we  are 
acquainted  with. 

This  calm  weather  was  succeeded 
by  a  fresh  gale  from  the  NW.,  which 
lasted  two  days.  Then  we  had  again 
variable  light  airs  for  about  twenty- 
four  hours ;  when  the  N  W.  wind  re- 
turned, and  blew  with  such  strength 
that  on  the  17th  we  had  sight  of  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  the  next 
day  anchored  in  Table  Bay. 

As  soon  as  we  had  received  the 
usual  visit  from  the  master  attendant 
and  the  surgeon,  I  sent  an  officer  to 
wait  on  Baron  Plettenberg,  the  gov- 
ernor ;  and,  on  his  return,  saluted 
the  garrison  with  thirteen  guns, 
which  compliment  was  returned  with 
the  same  number.  As  soon  as  we  had 
saluted,  I  went  on  shore,  accompanied 
by  some  of  my  officers,  and  waited 
on  the  Governor,  tho  lieutenant-gover- 


78 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.        [VoT.  III.  B.  I.  CH.  III. 


nor,  the  fiscal,  and  the  commander  of 
the  troops.  These  gentlemen  received 
me  with  the  greatest  civility  ;  and 
the  Governor,  in  particular,  promised 
me  every  assistance  that  the  place 
afforded.  At  the  same  time  I  ob- 
tained his  leave  to  set  up  our  obser- 
vatory on  any  spot  I  should  think 
most  convenient ;  to  pitch  tents  for 
the  sailmakers  and  coopers  ;  and  to 
bring  the  cattle  on  shore,  to  graze 
near  our  encampment.  Before  I  re- 
turned on  board,  I  ordered  soft  bread, 
fresh  meat,  and  greens  to  be  provided 
every  day  for  the  ship's  company. 
On  the  22d,  we  set  up  the  tents  and 
observatory,  and  began  to  send  the 
several  articles  out  of  the  ship  which 
I  wanted  on  shore.  This  could  not 
be  done  sooner,  as  the  militia  of  the 
place  were  exercising  on  or  near  the 
ground  which  we  were  to  occupy. 

The  next  day,  we  began  to  observe 
equal  altitudes  of  the  sun,  in  order  to 
ascertain  the  rate  of  the  watch,  or 
which  is  the  same  thing,  to  find 
whether  it  had  altered  its  rate. 
These  observations  were  continued 
every  day,  whenever  the  weather 
would  permit,  till  the  time  of  our 
departure  drew  near.  But  before 
this,  the  calkers  had  been  set  to 
work  to  calk  the  ship ;  and  I  had 
concerted  measures  for  supplying  both 
ships  with  such  provisions  as  I  should 
want.  Bakers,  likewise,  had  been 
ordered,  immediately  after  our  ar- 
rival, to  bake  such  a  quantity  of 
bread  as  I  thought  would  be  requisite. 
As  fast  as  the  several  articles  destined 
for  the  Resolution  were  got  ready,  they 
were  carried  on  board. 

Nothing  remarkable  happened  till 
the  evening  of  the  31st,  when  it  came 
on  to  blow  excessively  hard  at  SE., 
and  continued  for  three  days  ;  dur- 
ing which  time  there  was  no  com- 
munication between  the  ship  and  the 
shore.  The  Resolution  was  the  only 
ship  in  the  bay  that  rode  out  the  gale 
without  dragging  her  anchors.  We 
felt  its  effects  as  sensibly  on  shore. 
Our  tents  and  observatory  were  torn 
to  pieces ;  and  our  astronomical  quad- 
rant narrowly  escaped  irreparable 
On  the  3d  of  November 


the  storm  ceased,  and  the  next  day 
we  resumed  our  different  employ- 
ments. In  the  morning  of  the  10th 
the  Discovery  arrived  in  the  bay. 
Captain  Clerke  informed  me  that  he 
had  sailed  from  Plymouth  on  the  1st 
of  August,  and  should  have  been 
with  us  here  a  week  sooner  if  the 
late  gale  of  wind  had  not  blown  him 
off  the  coast.  Upon  the  whole,  he 
was  seven  days  longer  in  his  passage 
from  England  than  we  had  been.  He 
had  the  misfortune  to  lose  one  of  his 
marines,  by  falling  overboard  ;  but 
there  had  been  no  other  mortality 
amongst  his  people,  and  they  now  ar- 
rived well  and  healthy.  [Here  the 
history  of  an  excursion  into  the 
country,  narrated  by  Mr  Anderson, 
is  omitted,  with  the  exception  of  a 
passage  describing  a  remarkable  stone 
or  rock.] 

"In  the  afternoon  we  went  to  see 
a  stone  of  a  remarkable  size,  called 
by  the  inhabitants  the  Tower  of 
Babylon,  or  the  Pearl  Diamond.  It 
lies,  or  stands,  upon  the  top  of  some 
low  hills,  at  the  foot  of  which  our 
farm-house l  was  situated ;  and  though 
the  road  to  it  is  neither  very  steep 
nor  rugged,  we  were  above  an  hour 
and  a  half  in  walking  to  it.  It  is  of 
an  oblong  shape,  rounded  on  the  top, 
and  lies  nearly  south  and  north.  The 
east  and  west  sides  are  steep  and 
almost  perpendicular.  The  south 
end  is  likewise  steep,  and  its  greatest 
height  is  there  ;  from  whence  it 
declines  gently  to  the  north  part,  by 
which  we  ascended  to  its  top,  an! 
had  an  extensive  view  of  the  whole 
country.  Its  circumference,  I  think, 
must  be  at  least  half-a-mile  ;  as  it 
took  us  above  half-an-hour  to  walk 
round  it,  including  every  allowance 
for  the  bad  road  and  stopping  a  little. 
At  its  highest  part,  which  is  the  south 
end,  comparing  it  with  a  known  ob- 
ject, it  seems  to  equal  the  dome  of  St 
Paul's  Church.  It  is  one  uninter- 
rupted mass  or  stone,  if  we  except 
some  fissures,  or  rather  impressions, 
not  above  three  or  four  feet  deep,  and 


1  Where  the  party  had  their  quar- 
ters on  the  previous  night. 


DEC.  1776.] 


DEPARTUKE  FROM  THE  CAPE. 


79 


a  rein  which  runs  across  near  its 
north  end.  It  is  of  that  sort  of  stone 
called  by  mineralogists  Saxum  con- 
glutinatum,  and  consists  chiefly  of 

Eieces  of  coarse  quartz  and  glimmer, 
eld  together  by  a  clayey  cement. 
But  the  vein  which  crosses  it,  though 
of  the  same  materials,  is  much  com- 
pacter.  This  rein  is  not  above  a  foot 
broad  or  thick,  and  its  surface  is  cut 
into  little  squares  or  oblongs,  disposed 
obliquely,  which  makes  it  look  like 
the  remains  of  some  artificial  work. 
But  I  could  not  observe  whether  it 
penetrated  far  into  the  large  rock,  or 
was  only  superficial.  In  descending, 
we  found  at  its  foot  a  very  rich  black 
mould  ;  and  on  the  sides  of  the  hills, 
some  trees  of  a  considerable  size, 
natives  of  the  place,  which  are  a 
species  of  olea. " 

On  the  23d,  we  got  on  board  the 
observatory,  clock,  &C.1 


CHAPTER  IV. 

AFTER  the  disaster  which  happened 
to  our  sheep,2  it  may  be  well  supposed 
I  did  not  trust  those  that  remained 
long  on  shore,  but  got  them  and  the 
other  cattle  on  board  as  fast  as  pos- 
sible. I  also  added  to  my  original 
stock  by  purchasing  two  young  bulls, 
two  heifers,  two  young  stone-horses, 
two  mares,  two  rams,  several  ewes 
and  goats,  and  some  rabbits  and 
poultry.  All  of  them  were  intended 
for  New  Zealand,  Otaheite,  and  the 
neighbouring  islands,  or  any  other 
places,  in  the  course  of  our  voyage, 
where  there  might  be  a  prospect  that 
the  leaving  any  of  them  would  be  use- 
ful to  posterity. 
Towards  the  latter  end  of  November 


1  The  rest  of  the  Chapter,  omitted, 
consists  of  purely  technical  accounts 
of    astronomical    observations,    and 
nautical  remarks  on  the  passage  from 
England  to  the  Cape,  with  regard  to 
the  currents  and  the  variation. 

2  ' '  Some  dogs  having  got  in  amongst 
them,  forced  them  out  of  the  pen,  kill- 
ing four,  and  dispersing  the  rest." 


the  calkers  had  finished  their  work 
on  board  the  Discovery,  and  she  had 
received  all  her  provisions  and  water. 
Of  the  former,  both  ships  had  a  supply 
sufficient  for  two  years  and  upwards. 
And  every  other  article  we  could 
think  of  necessary  for  such  a  voyage, 
that  could  be  had  at  the  Cape,  was 
procured,  neither  knowing  when  nor 
where  we  might  come  to  a  place  where 
we  could  furnish  ourselves  so  well. 
Having  given  Captain  Clerke  a  copy 
of  my  instructions,  and  an  order 
directing  him  how  to  proceed  in  case 
of  separation,  in  the  morning  of  the 
30th  we  repaired  on  board.  At  five 
in  the  afternoon  a  breeze  sprung  up 
at  SE.,  with  which  we  weighed  and 
stood  out  of  the  bay.  At  nine  it  fell 
calm,  and  we  anchored  between  Pen- 
guin Island  and  the  east  shore,  where 
we  lay  till  3  o'clock  next  morning. 
We  then  weighed  and  put  to  sea,  with 
a  light  breeze  at  S. ;  but  did  not  get 
clear  of  the  land  till  the  morning  of  the 
3d  [of  December],  when,  with  a  fresh 
gale  at  WN  W. ,  we  stood  to  the  SE.  to 
get  more  into  the  way  of  these  winds. 

On  the  5th,  a  sudden  squall  of  wind 
carried  away  the  Resolution's  mizzen- 
topmast.  Having  another  to  replace 
it,  the  loss  was  not  felt,  especially  as 
it  was  a  bad  stick,  and  had  often  com- 
plained. On  the  6th,  in  the  evening, 
being  then  in  the  Latitude  of  39U 1 4'  S. , 
and  in  the  Longitude  of  23°  56'  E., 
we  passed  through  several  small  spots 
of  water  of  reddish  colour.  Some  of 
this  was  taken  up,  and  it  was  found 
to  abound  with  a  small  animal,  which 
the  microscope  discovered  to  be  like 
a  cray-fish,  of  a  reddish  hue.  We 
continued  our  course  to  the  SE.,  with 
a  very  strong  gale  from  the  westward, 
followed  by  a  mountainous  sea,  which 
made  the  ship  roll  and  tumble  ex- 
ceedingly, and  gave  us  a  great  deal  of 
trouble  to  preserve  the  cattle  we  had 
on  board.  Notwithstanding  all  our 
care,  several  goats,  especially  the 
males,  died,  and  some  sheep.  This 
misfortune  was,  in  a  great  measure, 
owing  to  the  cold,  which  we  now 
began  most  sensibly  to  feel. 

On  the  12th,  at  noon,  we  saw  land 
extending  from  SE.  by  S.  to  SE.  by  E. 


80 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.         [VoT.  III.  B.  I.  CH.  IV. 


\ji)OD  a  nearer  approach  we  found  it 
to  be  two  islands.  That  which  lies 
most  to  the  south,  and  is  also  the 
largest,  I  judged  to  be  about  fifteen 
leagues  in  circuit,  and  to  be  in  the 
Latitude  of  46°  53'  S. ,  and  in  the  Longi- 
tude of  37°  46'  E.  The  most  northerly 
one  is  about  nine  leagues  in  circuit, 
and  lies  in  the  Latitude  of  46°  40'  S., 
and  in  38°  8'  E.  Longitude.  The  dis- 
tance from  the  one  to  the  other  is 
about  five  leagues.  We  passed  through 
this  channel,  at  equal  distance  from 
both  islands,  and  could  not  discover, 
with  the  assistance  of  our  best  glasses, 
either  tree  or  shrub  on  either  of  them. 
They  seemed  to  have  a  rocky  and  bold 
shore  ;  and  excepting  the  south-east 
parts,  where  the  land  is  rather  low 
and  flat,  a  surface  composed  of  barren 
mountains,  which  rise  to  a  consider- 
able height,  and  whose  summits  and 
sides  were  covered  with  snow,  which 
in  many  places  seemed  to  be  of  a  con- 
siderable depth.  The  south-east  parts 
had  a  much  greater  quantity  on  them 
than  the  rest,  owing,  probably,  to  the 
sun  acting  for  a  less  space  of  time  on 
these  than  on  the  north  and  north- 
west parts.  The  ground,  where  it 
was  not  hid  by  the  snow,  from  the 
various  shades  it  exhibited,  may  be 
supposed  to  be  covered  with  moss,  or, 
perhaps,  such  a  coarse  grass  as  is 
found  in  some  parts  of  Falkland's 
Islands.  On  the  north  side  of  each 
of  the  islands  is  a  detached  rock  ;  that 
near  the  south  island  is  shaped  like  a 
tower,  and  seemed  to  be  at  some  dis- 
tance from  the  shore.  As  we  passed 
along,  a  quantity  of  sca-\veed  was 
seen,  and  the  colour  of  the  water  in- 
dicated soundings.  But  there  was  no 
appearance  of  an  inlet,  unless  near 
the  rock  just  mentioned  ;  and  that, 
from  its  smallness,  did  not  promise 
a  good  auchoring-place.  These  two 
islands,  as  also  four  others  which  lie 
from  nine  to  twelve  degrees  of  longi- 
tude more  to  the  east,  and  nearly  in 
the  same  latitude,  were  discovered  by 
Captains  Marion  du  Fresne  andCrozet, 
French  navigators,  in  January  1772, 
on  their  passage  in  two  ships  from 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  to  the  Philip- 
pine Islands.  As  they  have  no  names 


in  the  French  chart  of  the  southern 
hemisphere,  which  Captain  Crozet 
communicated  to  me  in  1775,  I  shall 
distinguish  the  two  we  now  saw  by 
calling  them  Prince  Edward's  Islands, 
after  his  Majesty's  fourth  son  ;  and 
the  other  four  by  the  name  of  Marion's 
and  Crozet's  Islands,  to  commemorate 
their  discoverers. 

We  had  now,  for  the  most  part, 
strong  gales  between  the  north  and 
west,  and  but  very  indifferent  weather, 
not  better,  indeed,  than  we  generally 
have  in  England  in  the  very  depth 
of  winter,  though  it  was  now  the 
middle  of  summer  in  this  hemisphere. 
Not  discouraged,  however,  by  this, 
after  leaving  Prince  Edward's  Islands 
I  shaped  our  course  to  pass  to  the 
southward  of  the  others  that  I  might 
get  into  the  latitude  of  the  land  dis- 
covered by  Monsieur  de  Kerguelen. 
1  had  applied  to  the  Chevalier  de 
Borda,  whom  I  found  at  Teneriffe,1 
requesting  that  if  he  knew  anything 
of  the  island  discovered  by  Monsieur 
de  Kerguelen,  between  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope  and  New  Holland,  he 
would  be  so  obliging  as  to  communi- 
cate it  to  me.  Accordingly,  just  be- 
fore we  sailed  from  Santa  Cruz  Bay, 
he  sent  me  the  following  account  of 
it,  viz. :  "That  the  pilot  of  the  lions- 
sole,  who  was  in  the  voyage  with 
Monsieur  de  Kerguelen,  had  given  him 
the  latitude  and  longitude  cf  a  little 
island,  which  Monsieur  de  Kerguelen 
called  the  Isle  of  Rendezvous,  and 'which 
lies  not  far  from  the  great  island  which 
he  saw.  Latitude  of  the  little  isle,  by 
seven  observations,  48°  26'  S. ;  Longi- 
tude, by  seven  observations  of  the  dis- 
tance of  the  sun  and  moon,  64°  57'  E. 
from  Paris. "  I  was  very  sorry  I  had 
not  sooner  known  that  there  was  on 
board  the  frigate  at  Tenerifte  an  officer 
who  had  been  with  Monsieur  de  Ker- 
guelen, especially  the  pilot,  because 
from  him  I  might  have  obtained  more 
interesting  information  about  this 
land  than  the  situation  alone,  of  which 
I  was  not  before  entirely  ignorant. 


1  In  command  of  the  French  frigate 
La  Boussole,  ridii.g  in  the  road  of 
Santa  Cruz. 


DEC.  1776.]  THE  ISLE  OF 

My  instructions  directing  me  to 
examine  it,  with  a  view  to  discover  a 
good  harbour,  I  proceeded  in  the 
search ;  and  on  the  16th,  being  then 
in  the  Latitude  of  48°  45'  S.,  and 
in  the  Longitude  of  52°  E.,  we  saw 
penguins  and  divers,  and  rock -weed 
floating  in  the  sea.  We  continued  to 
meet  with  more  or  less  of  these  every 
day  as  we  proceeded  to  the  eastward  ; 
and  on  the  21st,  in  the  Latitude  of 
48°  27'  S.,  and  in  the  Longitude  of 
65°  E.,  a  very  large  seal  was  seen. 
We  had  now  much  foggy  weather, 
and  as  we  expected  to  fall  in  with  the 
land  every  hour,  our  navigation  be- 
came both  tedious  and  dangerous.  At 
length  on  the  24th,  at  6  o'clock  in 
the  morning,  as  we  were  steering  to 
the  eastward — the  fog  clearing  away 
a  little — we  saw  land,1  bearing  SSE., 
which,  upon  a  nearer  approach,  we 
found  to  be  an  island  of  considerable 
height,  and  about  three  leagues  in 
circuit.  Soon  after  we  saw  another 
of  the  same  magnitude  one  league  to 
the  eastward  ;  and  between  these  two, 
in  the  direction  of  SE.,  some  smaller 
ones.  In  the  direction  of  S.  by  E. 
half  E.,  from  the  east  end  of  the  first 
island,  a  third  high  island  was  seen. 
At  times,  as  the  fog  broke  £way,  we 
had  the  appearance  of  land  over  the 
small  islands,  and  I  had  thoughts  of 
steering  for  it  by  running  in  between 
them.  But  on  drawing  nearer,  I 
found  this  would  be  a  dangerous  at- 
tempt while  the  weather  continued 
foggy.  For  if  there  should  be  no 
passage,  or  if  we  should  meet  with 
any  sudden,  danger,  it  would  have 
been  impossible  for  us  to  get  off,  the 
wind  being  right  astern,  and  a  prodi- 
gious sea  running  that  broke  on  all 
the  shores  in  a  frightful  surf.  At  the 
same  time,  seeing  another  island  in 
the  north-east  direction,  and  not 
knowing  but  that  there  might  be 
more,  I  judged  it  prudent  to  haul  off 


RENDEZVOUS. 


81 


1  Captain  Cook  was  not  the  original 
discoverer  of  these  small  islands  which 
he  now  fell  in  with.  It  is  certain 
that  they  had  been  seen  and  named 
by  Kerguelen,  on  his  second  voyage, 
in  December  1773. 


and  wait  for  clearer  weather  lest  we 
should  get  entangled  amongst  un- 
known lands  in  a  thick  fog.  We  did 
but  just  weather  the  island  last  men- 
tioned. It  is  a  high  round  rock,  which 
was  named  Bligh's  Cap.  Perhaps 
this  is  the  same  that  Monsieur  de 
Kerguelen  called  the  Isle  of  Rendez- 
vous,2 but  I  know  nothing  that  can 
rendezvous  at  it  but  fowls  of  the 
air,  for  it  is  certainly  inaccessible  to 
every  other  animal. 

At  11  o'clock  the  weather  began  to 
clear  up,  and  we  immediately  tacked, 
and  steered  in  for  the  land.  At  noon 
we  had  a  pretty  good  observation, 
which  enabled  us  to  determine  the 
latitude  of  Bligh's  Cap,  which  is  the 
northernmost  island,  to  be  48°  29'  S. , 
and  its  longitude  68°  40'  E.  We 

Eassed  it  at  3  o'clock,  standing  to  the 
SE.,  with. a  fresh  gale  at  W.  Soon 
after  we  saw  the  land,  of  which  we 
had  a  faint  view  in  the  morning ; 
and  at  4  o'clock  it  extended  from  SE. 
half  E.  to  SW.  by  S.,  distant  about 
four  miles.  The  left  extreme,  which 
I  judged  to  be  the  northern  point  oi 
this  land,  called  in  the  French  chart 
of  the  southern  hemisphere,  Cape  St 
Louis,3  terminated  in  a  perpendicular 
rock  of  a  considerable  height ;  and 
the  right  one  (near  which  is  a  detached 
rock)  in  a  high  indented  point.  From 
this  point  the  coast  seemed  to  turn 
short  round  to  the  southward  ;  for  we 
could  see  no  land  to  the  westward  of 
the  direction  in  which  it  now  bore  to 
us,  but  the  islands  we  had  observed 
in  the  morning ;  the  most  southerly 


2  This  isle,  or  rock,  was  the  single 
point  about  which  Captain  Cook  had 
received  the  least  information  at  Tene- 
riffe  ;  and  we  may  observe  how  saga- 
cious he  was  in  tracing  it.     Kergue- 
len's  words  are :  "  Isle  de  Reunion, 
qui  n'est  qu'une  Roche,  nous  servoit 
de  Rendezvous,  ou  de  point  de  ral- 
liement,   et  ressemble  &  un  coin  de 
mire." — Note  in  Original  Edition. 

3  Cook  is  here  declared  by  his  editor 
to  be  in  error  ;  the  northern  point  he 
here  describes  being   really  that  to 
which  the  French  had  given  the  name 
of  Cape  Francois. 


162 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.         [VoT.  III.  B.  I.  Cn.IY. 


of  them  lying  nearly  west  from  the 
point,  about  two  or  three  leagues  dis- 
tant. About  the  middle  of  the  land 
there  appeared  to  be  an  inlet,  for  which 
we  steered ;  but,  on  approaching,  found 
it  was  only  a  bending  on  the  coast,  and 
therefore  bore  up,  to  go  round  Cape  St 
Louis.  Soon  after,  land  opened  off  the 
cape,  in  the  direction  of  S.  53°  E., 
and  appeared  to  be  a  point  at  a  con- 
siderable distance  ;  for  the  trending 
of  the  coast  from  the  cape  was  more 
southerly.  We  also  saw  several  rocks 
and  islands  to  the  eastward  of  the 
above  directions,  the  most  distant  of 
which  was  about  seven  leagues  from 
the  cape,  bearing  S.  88°  E.  We  had 
no  sooner  got  off  the  cape,  than  we 
observed  the  coast  to  the  southward  to 
be  much  indented  by  projecting  points 
and  bays  ;  so  that  we  now  made  sure 
of  soon  finding  a  good  harbour.  Ac- 
cordingly, we  had  not  run  a  mile 
farther,  before  we  discovered  one  be- 
hind the  cape,  into  which  we  began 
to  ply  ;  but  after  making  one  board, 
it  fell  calm,  and  we  anchored  at  the 
entrance  in  forty-five  fathoms  water, 
the  bottom  black  sand ;  as  did  the 
Discovery  soon  after.  I  immediately 
despatched  Mr  Bligh,  the  master,  in 
a  boat  to  sound  the  harbour  ;  who,  on 
his  return,  reported  it  to  be  safe  and 
commodious,  with  good  anchorage  in 
every  part,  and  great  plenty  of  fresh 
water,  seals,  penguins,  and  other  birds 
on  the  shore,  but  not  a  stick  of  wood. 
While  we  lay  at  anchor,  we  observed 
that  the  flood  tide  came  from  the  SE., 
runningtwo  knots,  at  least,  inanhour. 
At  daybreak  in  the  morning  of  the 
25th,  we  weighed  with  a  gentle  breeze 
at  W.,  and  having  wrought  into  the 
harbour,  to  within  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
of  the  sandy  beach  at  its  head,  we 
anchored  in  eight  fathoms  water,  the 
bottom  a  fine  dark  sand.  The  Dis- 
covery did  not  get  in  till  2  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon ;  when  Captain  Clerke 
informed  me,  that  he  had  narrowly 
escaped  being  driven  on  the  south 
point  of  the  harbour,  his  anchor  hav- 
ing started  before  they  had  tirx  ^  *-o 
shorten  in  the  cable.  This  obliged 
them  to  set  sail,  and  drag  the  anchor 
after  them,  till  they  had  room  to 


heave  it  up  ;  and  then  they  found 
one  of  its  palms  was  broken  off.  As 
soon  as  we  had  anchored,  I  ordered 
all  the  boats  to  be  hoisted  out ;  the 
ship  to  be  moored  with  a  kedge  an- 
chor ;  and  the  water-casks  to  be  got 
ready  to  send  on  shore.  In  the  mean- 
time I  landed,  to  look  for  the  most 
convenient  spot  where  they  might  be 
filled,  and  to  see  what  else  the  place 
afforded.  I  found  the  shore,  in  a 
manner,  covered  with  penguins  and 
other  birds,  and  seals.  These  latter 
were  not  numerous,  but  so  insensible 
of  fear  (which  plainly  indicated  that 
they  were  unaccustomed  to  such  visi- 
tors), that  we  killed  as  many  as  we 
chose,  for  the  sake  of  their  fat  or 
blubber,  to  make  oil  for  our  lamps, 
and  other  uses.  Fresh  water  was  in 
no  less  plenty  than  were  birds  ;  for 
every  gully  afforded  a  large  stream. 
But  not  a  single  tree  or  shrub,  nor 
the  least  sign  of  any,  was  to  be  dis- 
covered, and  but  very  little  herbage 
of  any  sort.  Before  I  returned  to  my 
ship,  I  ascended  the  first  ridge  of 
rocks,  which  rise  in  a  kind  of  amphi- 
theatre above  one  another.  I  was  in 
hopes,  by  this  means,  of  obtaining  a 
view  of  the  country  ;  but  before  I 
reached  the  top,  there  came  on  so 
thick  a  fog,  that  I  could  hardly  find 
my  way  down  again.  In  the  evening, 
we  hauled  the  seine  at  the  head  of 
the  harbour,  but  caught  only  half-a- 
dozen  small  fish.  We  had  no  better 
success  next  day,  when  we  tried  with 
hook  and  line.  So  that  our  only  re- 
source here,  for  fresh  provisions,  was 
birds,  of  which  there  was  an  inex- 
haustible store. 

The  morning  of  the  26th  proved 
foggy,  with  ra:n.  However,  we  went 
to  work  to  fill  water,  and  to  cut  grass 
for  our  cattle,  which  we  found  in 
small  spots  near  the  head  of  the  har- 
bour. The  rain  which  fell  swelled 
all  the  rivulets  to  such  a  degree,  that 
the  sides  of  the  hills  bounding  the 
harbour  seemed  to  be  covered  with  a 
sheet  of  water.  For  the  rain,  as  it 
fell,  run  into  the  fissures  and  crags  of 
the  rocks  that  composed  the  interior 
parts  of  the  hills,  and  was  precipitated 
down  their  sides  in  prodigious  tor- 


DEC.  1776.]  KERGUELEN'S 

rents.  The  people  having  wrought 
hard  the  two  preceding  days,  and 
nearly  completed  our  water,  which 
we  filled  from  a  brook  at  the  left 
corner  of  the  beach,  I  allowed  them 
the  27th  as  a  day  of  rest,  to  celebrate 
Christmas.  Upon  this  indulgence, 
many  of  them  went  on  shore,  and 
made  excursions,  in  different  direc- 
tions, into  the  country,  which  they 
found  barren  and  desolate  in  the  high- 
est degree.  In  the  evening,  one  of 
them  brought  to  me  a  quart  bottle 
which  he  had  found,  fastened  with 
some  wire  to  a  projecting  rock  on  the 
north  side  of  the  harbour.  This 
bottle  contained  a  piece  of  parch- 
ment, on  which  was  written  the  fol- 
lowing inscription : 

"  Ludovico  X  V  Galliarum 
rege,  et  d.1  de  Boyncs 
regi  a  Secretis  ad  res 
maritimas  annis  1772  et 
1733." 

From  this  inscription,  it  is  clear 
that  we  were  not  the  first  Europeans 
who  had  been  in  this  harbour.  I  sup- 
posed it  to  be  left  by  Monsieur  de 
Boisguehenneu,  who  went  on  shore 
in  a  boat  on  the  13th  of  February 
1772,  the  same  day  that  Monsieur  de 
Kerguelen  discovered  this  land.8  As 
a  memorial  of  our  having  been  in  this 
harbour,  I  wrote  on  the  other  side  of 
the  parchment : 

1  The  (d),  no  doubt,  is  a  contraction 
of  the  word   Domino.     The  French 
Secretary  of   the  Marine  was    then 
Monsieur  de  Boynes. 

2  The  bottle  and  inscription  were 
really  left  nearly  two  years  later,  in 
January  1774,  when  Kerguelen,  on 
his  second  voyage,  by  M.  de  Roche- 
gude,  one  of  his  officers,  took  posses- 
sion of   the  country,   with  all    the 
requisite  formalities,  in  the  name  of 
the  King  of  France.     As  the  French 
ships  had  arrived  on  the  coast  in 
December  1773,  it  was  natural  that 
the  inscription  should  refer  to  that 
year  rather  than  the  following,  as 
barring  possible  claims  by  rival  navi- 
gators. 


LAND  VISITED.  83 

"  Naves  Resolution 

et  Discovery 

de  Eege  Magnce  Britannia^ 
Dccembris  1776." 

I  then  put  it  again  into  a  bottle,  to- 
gether with  a  silver  twopenny  piece 
of  1772 ;  and  having  covered  the 
mouth  of  the  bottle  with  a  leaden 
cap,  I  placed  it,  the  next  morning,  in 
a  pile  of  stones  erected  for  the  pur- 
pose, upon  a  little  eminence  on  the 
north  shore  of  the  harbour,  and  near 
to  the  place  where  it  was  first  found  ; 
in  which  position  it  cannot  escape  the 
notice  of  any  European  whom  chance 
or  design  may  bring  into  this  port. 
Here  I  displayed  the  British  flag,  and 
named  the  place  Christinas  Harbour, 
from  our  having  arrived  in  it  on  that 
festival. 

After  I  had  finished  this  business 
of  the  inscription,  I  went  in  my  boat 
round  the  harbour,  and  landed  in 
several  places,  to  examine  what  the 
shore  afforded,  and  particularly  to 
look  for  drift  wood.  For  although 
the  land  here  was  totally  destitute  of 
trees,  this  might  not  be  the  case  in 
other  parts ;  and  if  there  were  any, 
the  torrents  would  force  some,  or,  at 
least,  some  branches,  into  the  sea, 
which  would  afterward  throw  them 
upon  the  shores,  as  in  all  other 
countries  where  there  is  wood,  and  in 
many  where  there  is  none ;  but 
throughout  the  whole  extent  of  the 
harbour  I  found  not  a  single  piece. 
In  the  afternoon,  I  went  upon  Cape 
St  Louis,3  accompanied  by  Mr  King, 
my  second  lieutenant.  I  was  in 
hopes,  from  this  elevation,  to  have 
had  a  view  of  the  sea  coast,  and  of 
the  islands  lying  off  it.  But,  when 
I  got  up,  I  found  every  distant  object 
below  me  hid  in  a  thick  fog.  The 
land  on  the  same  plain,4  or  of  a 
greater  height,  was  visible  enough, 
and  appeared  naked  and  desolate  in 
the  highest  degree,  except  some  hills 
to  the  southward,  which  were  covered 
with  snow.  When  I  got  on  board,  I 
found  the  launch  hoisted  in,  the  ships 
unmoored,  and  ready  to  put  to  sea ; 

8  Cape  Fra^ois.  4  Level. 


but  our  sailing  was  deferred  till  5 
o'clock  the  next  morning,  when  we 
weighed  anchor. 


CHAPTER  V.1 

BEING  desirous  of  getting  the  length 
of  Cape  George,2  to  be  assured  whether 
or  no  it  was  the  most  southerly  point 
of  the  whole  land,  I  continued  to 
stretch  to  the  south,  under  all  the 
sail  we  could  carry,  till  half-an-hour 
past  7  o'clock  [December  30] ;  when, 
seeing  no  likelihood  of  accomplishing 
my  design,  as  the  wind  had  hy  this 
time  shifted  to  WSW.,  the  very  di- 
rection in  which  we  wanted  to  go,  I 
took  the  advantage  of  the  shifting  of 
the  wind,  and  stood  away  from  the 
coast.  At  this  time,  Cape  George 
bore  S.  53°  W.,  distant  about  seven 
leagues.  A  small  island  that  lies  off 
the  pitch  of  the  cape,  was  the  only 
land  we  could  see  to  the  south  of  it ; 
and  we  were  further  confirmed  that 
there  was  no  more  in  that  quarter,  by 
a  SW.  swell  which  we  met  as  soon  as 
we  brought  the  cape  to  bear  in  this 
direction. 

But  we  have  still  a  stronger  proof 
that  no  part  of  this  land  can  extend 
much,  if  at  all,  to  the  southward  of 
Cape  George  ;  and  that  is,  Captain 
Furneaux's  track  in  February  1773, 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.          [VoY.  III.  B.  I. CH.  V. 


1  This  Chapter  is  almost  entirely  de- 
voted to  a  minute  account  of  Captain 
Cook's   examination  of  the  coast  of 
Kerguelen's  Land,  and  to  Mr  Ander- 
son's   observations    on   the    natural 
products,  the  animals,  the  soil,  &c., 
of  that  remote  and  unprofitable  re- 
gion.    The  present  interest  of  these 
matters  is  so  slight,  that  there  is  no 
loss  in  the  omission  of  the  Chapter, 
with  the  exception  of  a  brief  passage, 
in  which  Cook  affirms  the  insularity 
of  Kerguelen's  Land,  described  at  first 
by  its    discoverer  as  a  magnificent 
continent. 

2  So  called  by  Captain   Cook  in 
honour  of  the  King  ;  it  is  placed  by 
him  in.  Latitude  49°  54'  S.,  Longi- 
tude 70°  13'  E. 


after  his  separation  from  me  during 
my  late  voyage.  His  log-book  is  now 
lying  before  me,  and  I  find  from  it 
that  he  crossed  the  meridian  of  this 
land  only  about  seventeen  leagues  to 
the  southward  of  Cape  George  ;  a  dis- 
tance at  which  it  may  very  well  be 
seen  in  clear  weather.  This  seems  to 
have  been  the  case  when  Captain 
Furneaux  passed  it.  For  his  log- 
book makes  no  mention  of  fogs  or 
hazy  weather  ;  on  the  contrary,  it  ex- 
pressly tells  us  that,  when  in  this 
situation,  they  had  it  in  their  power 
to  make  observations,  both  for  lati- 
tude and  longitude,  on  board  his 
ship  ;  so  that,  if  this  land  extends 
farther  south  than  Cape  George,  it 
would  have  been  scarcely  possible 
that  ho  should  have  passed  without 
seeing  it. 

From  these  circumstances  we  are 
able  to  determine,  within  a  very  few 
miles,  the  quantity  of  latitude  that 
this  land  occupies,  which  does  not 
much  exceed  one  degree  and  a  quar- 
ter. As  to  its  extent  from  east  to 
west,  that  still  remains  undecided. 
We  only  know,  that  no  part  of  it  can 
reach  so  far  to  the  west  as  the  meri- 
dian of  65°;  because,  in  1773,  under 
that  meridian,  I  searched  for  it  in 
vain.  The  French  discoverers,  with 
some  reason,  imagined  Cape  St  Louis 
to  be  the  projecting  point  of  a  southern 
continent.  The  English  have  since 
proved  that  no  such  continent  exists; 
and  that  the  land  in  question  is  an 
island  of  no  great  extent,3  which, 
from  its  sterility,  I  should,  with  great 
propriety,  call  the  Island  of  Desola- 
tion, but  that  I  would  not  rob  Mon- 
sieur de  Kerguelen  of  the  honour  of 
its  bearing  his  name.4  .  .  . 


8  Kerguelen  concurs  with  Captain 
Cook  as  to  this.  However,  he  tells 
us,  that  he  has  reason  to  believe  that 
it  is  about  200  leagues  in  circuit ;  and 
that  he  was  acquainted  with  about 
fourscore  leagues  of  its  coast.  "  J'en 
connois  environs  quatre-vingt  lieues 
des  cotes;  et  j'ailieu  decroire,  qu'elle 
a  environ  deux  cents  ^lieues  de  cir- 
cuit. " — Note  in  Original  Edition. 

4  Cook's    alternative    title,   amply 


JAN.  1777.]    FROM  KERGUELEN'S  TO  VAN  DIEMEN'S  LAND.       85 

fore-topmast  went  by  the  board,  and 

CHAPTER  VI.  carried  the  maintop-gallantmast  with 

it.  This  occasioned  some  delay,  as  it 
took  us  up  the  whole  day  to  clear  the 
wreck,  and  to  fit  another  topmast. 
The  former  was  accomplished  without 
losing  any  part  of  it,  except  a  few 
fathoms  of  small  rope.  Not  having 
a  spare  maintop-gallantmast  on  board, 
the  foretop-gallantmast  was  converted 
into  one  for  our  immediate  use. 

On  the  24th,  at  3  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  we  discovered  the  coast  of 
Van  Diemen's  Land,  bearing  N.  half 
W.  At  6  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  we 
sounded,  and  found  sixty  fathoms 
water,  over  a  bottom  of  broken  coral 
and  shells.  Soon  after  we  had  sight 
of  land  the  westerly  winds  left  us, 
and  were  succeeded  by  variable  light 
airs  and  alternate  calms,  till  the  26th 
at  noon.  At  that  time  a  breeze  sprung 
up  and  freshened  at  SE.,  which  put 
it  in  my  power  to  carry  into  execution 
the  design  I  had  upon  due  considera- 
tion formed,  of  carrying  the  ships 
into  Adventure  Bay,  where  I  might 
expect  to  get  a  supply  of  wood  and  of 
grass  for  the  cattle  ;  of  both  which 
articles  we  should,  as  I  now  found, 
have  been  in  great  want,  if  I  had 
waited  till  our  arrival  in  New  Zea- 
land. We  therefore  stood  for  the 
bay,  and  anchored  in  it  at  4  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon,  in  twelve  fathoms 
water.  Our  distance  from  the  nearest 
shore  was  about  three  quarters  of  a 
mile.  As  soon  as  we  had  anchored,  I 
ordered  the  boats  to  be  hoisted  out. 
In  one  of  them  I  went  myself,  to  look 
for  the  most  commodious  place  for 
furnishing  ourselves  with  th'j  neces- 
sary supplies ;  and  Captain  Clerke 
went  in  his  boat  upon  the  same  ser- 
vice. Wood  and  water  we  found  in 
plenty,  and  in  situations  convenient 
enough,  especially  the  first.  But 
grass,  of  which  we  stood  most  in 
need,  was  scarce,  and  also  very  coarse. 
Necessity,  however,  obliged  us  to  take 
such  as  we  coxild  get.  Next  morning 
early,  I  sent  Lieutenant  King  to  the 
east  side  of  the  bay  with  two  parties, 
one  to  cut  wood,  and  the  other  to  cut 
grass,  under  the  protection  of  the 
marines,  whom  I  judged  it  prudent 


AFTER  leaving  Kerguelen's  Land  I 
steered  E.  by  N.,  intending,  in  obed- 
ience to  my  instructions,  to  touch 
next  at  New  Zealand,  to  recruit  our 
water,  to  take  in  wood,  and  to  make 
hay  for  the  cattle.  Their  number 
by  this  time  had  been  considerably 
diminished ;  two  young  bulls,  one  of 
the  heifers,  two  rams,  and  several  of 
the  goats  having  of  late  died  while  we 
were  employed  in  exploring  this  deso- 
late coast.  .  .  . 

Thus  far  [to  Jan.  3]  we  had  fresh 
gales  from  the  W.  and  SW.,  and 
tolerably  clear  weather.  But  now 
the  wind  veered  to  the  N.,  where  it 
continued  eight  days,  and  was  at- 
tended with  a  thick  fog.  During 
this  time,  we  ran  above  300  leagues 
in  the  dark.  Now  and  then  the 
weather  would  clear  up,  and  give  us 
a  sight  of  the  sun ;  but  this  happened 
very  seldom,  and  was  al \vays  of  short 
continuance.  On  the  7th,  I  hoisted 
out  a  boat,  and  sent  an  order  to  Cap- 
tain Clerke,  appointing  Adventure 
Bay,  in  Van  Diemen's  Land,  as  our 
place  of  rendezvous,  in  case  of  separa- 
tion before  we  arrived  in  the  meridian 
of  that  land.  But  we  were  fortunate 
enough,  amidst  all  this  foggy  weather, 
by  frequently  firing  guns  as  signals, 
though  we  seldom  saw  each  other,  not 
to  lose  company. 

On  the  12th,  being  in  the  Latitude 
of  48*  40'  S.,  Longitude  110°  26'  E., 
the  northerly  winds  ended  in  a  calm  ; 
which,  after  a  few  hours,  was  suc- 
ceeded by  a  wind  from  the  southward. 
This,  with  rain,  continued  for  twenty- 
four  hours ;  when  it  freshened,  and 
veered  to  the  west  and  north-west, 
and  brought  on  fair  and  clear  weather. 
We  continued  our  course  to  the  east- 
ward, without  meeting  with  anything 
worthy  of  notice,  till  4  o'clock  in 
the  morning  of  the  19th,  when,  in  a 
sudden  squall  of  wind,  though  the 
Discovery  received  no  damage,  our 


justified  by  all  that  he  and  Mr  Ander- 
son observed,  is  now  commonly 
adopted  in  English  maps. 


8« 

to  land  as  a  guard.  For  although,  as 
yet,  none  of  the  natives  had  appeared, 
there  could  be  no  doubt  that  some 
were  in  our  neighbourhood,  as  we  had 
seen  columns  of  smoke  from  the  time 
of  our  approaching  the  coast ;  and 
some  now  was  observed  at  no  great 
distance  up  in  the  woods.  I  also  sent 
the  launch  for  water  ;  and  afterwards 
visited  all  the  parties  myself.  In  the 
evening,  we  drew  the  seine  at  the  head 
of  the  bay,  and,  at  one  haul,  caught 
a  great  quantity  of  fish.  We  should 
have  got  many  more  had  not  the  net 
broken  in  drawing  it  ashore.  Most 
of  them  were  of  that  sort  known  to 
seamen  by  the  name  of  elephant  fish. 
After  this  every  one  repaired  on  board 
with  what  wood  and  grass  we  had  cut, 
that  we  might  be  ready  to  sail  when- 
ever the  wind  should  serve.  This  not 
happening  next  morning,  the  people 
were  sent  on  shore  again  on  the  same 
duty  as  the  day  before.  I  also  em- 
ployed the  carpenter,  with  part  of  his 
crew,  to  cut  some  spars  for  the  use  of 
the  ship ;  and  despatched  Mr  Roberts, 
one  of  the  mates,  in  a  small  boat  to 
survey  the  bay. 

In  the  afternoon,  we  were  agree- 
ably surprised,  at  the  place  where  we 
were  cutting  wood,  with  a  visit  from 
some  of  the  natives — eight  men  and  a 
boy.  They  approached  us  from  the 
woods,  without  betraying  any  marks 
of  fear,  or  rather  with  the  greatest 
confidence  imaginable ;  for  none  of 
them  had  any  weapons,  except  one 
who  held  in  his  hand  a  stick  about 
two  feet  long,  and  pointed  at  one  end. 
They  were  quite  naked,  and  wore  no 
ornaments,  unless  we  consider  as  such, 
and  as  a  proof  of  their  love  of  finery, 
some  large  punctures  or  ridges  raised 
on  different  parts  of  their  bodies,  some 
in  straight  and  others  in  curved  lines. 
They  were  of  the  common  stature,  but 
rather  slender.  Their  skin  was  black, 
and  also  their  hair,  Avhich  was  as  woolly 
as  that  of  any  native  of  Guinea  ;  but 
they  were  not  distinguished  by  remark- 
ably thick  lips,  nor  flat  noses.  On 
the  contrary,  their  features  were  far 
from  being  disagreeable.  They  had 
pretty  good  eyes,  and  their  teeth  were 
tolerably  even,  but  very  dirty.  Most 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.         [VoY.  IIL  B.  I.  CH.  TL 


of  them  had  their  hair  and  beards 
smeared  with  a  red  ointment ;  and 
some  had  their  faces  also  painted  with 
the  same  composition.  They  received 
every  present  we  made  to  them  with- 
out the  least  appearance  of  satisfac- 
tion. When  some  bread  was  given, 
as  soon  as  they  understood  that  it  was 
to  be  eaten,  they  either  returned  it  or 
threw  it  away,  without  even  tasting 
it.  They  also  refused  some  elephant 
fish,  both  raw  and  dressed,  which  we 
offered  to  them.  But  upon  giving 
some  birds  to  them,  they  did  not  re- 
turn these,  and  easily  made  us  com- 
prehend that  they  were  fond  of  such 
food.  I  had  brought  two  pigs  ashore, 
with  a  view  to  leave  them  in  the 
woods.  The  instant  these  came  with- 
in their  reach,  they  seized  them,  as  a 
dog  would  have  done,  by  the  ears, 
and  were  for  carrying  them  off  imme- 
diately, with  no  other  intention,  as 
we  could  perceive,  but  to  kill  them. 

Being  desirous  of  knowing  the  usa 
of  the  stick  which  one  of  our  visitors 
carried  in  his  hand,  I  made  signs  to 
them  to  show  me,  and  so  far  succeeded, 
that  one  of  them  set  up  a  piece  of 
wood  as  a  mark,  and  threw  at  it,  at 
the  distance  of  about  twenty  yards. 
But  we  had  little  reason  to  commend 
his  dexterity,  for  after  repeated  trials, 
he  was  still  very  wide  from  the  object. 
Omai,  to  show  them  how  much  supe- 
rior our  weapons  were  to  theirs,  then 
fired  his  musket  at  it ;  which  alarmed 
them  so  much,  that  notwithstanding 
all  we  could  do  or  say,  they  ran  in- 
stantly into  the  woods.  One  of  them 
was  so  frightened,  that  he  let  drop  an 
axe  and  two  knives  that  had  been 
given  to  him.  From  us,  however, 
they  went  to  the  place  where  some  of 
the  Discovery's  people  were  employed 
in  taking  water  into  their  boat.  The 
officer  of  that  party,  not  knowing  that 
they  had  paid  us  so  friendly  a  visit, 
nor  what  their  intent  might  be,  fired 
a  musket  in  the  air,  which  sent  them 
off  with  the  greatest  precipitation. 

Thus  ended  our  first  interview  with 
the  natives.  Immediately  after  their 
final  retreat,  judging  that  their  fears 
would  prevent  their  remaining  near 
enough  to  observe  what  was  passing, 


JAN.  1777.]         INTERVIEWS  WITH  THE  NATIVES. 


I  ordered  two  pigs,  being  a  boar  and 
sow,  to  be  carried  about  a  mile  with- 
in the  woods,  at  the  head  of  the  bay. 
I  saw  them  left  there,  by  the  side  of 
a  fresh-water  brook.  A  young  bull 
and  a  cow,  and  some  sheep  and  goats 
were  also  at  first  intended  to  have 
been  left  by  me,  as  an  additional  pre- 
sent to  Van  Diemen's  Land.  But  I  soon 
laid  aside  all  thoughts  of  this,  from  a 
persuasion  that  the  natives,  incapable 
of  entering  into  my  views  of  improving 
their  country,  would  destroy  them. 
If  ever  they  should  meet  with  the 
pigs,  I  have  no  doubt  this  will  be 
their  fate.  But  as  that  race  of  animals 
soon  becomes  wild,  and  is  fond  of  the 
thickest  cover  of  the  woods,  there  is 
great  probability  of  their  being  pre- 
served. An  open  place  must  have 
been  chosen  for  the  accommodation  of 
the  other  cattle  ;  and  in  such  a  situa- 
tion they  could  not  possibly  have  re- 
mained concealed  many  days. 

The  morning  of  the  29th  was  ushered 
in  with  a  dead  calm,  which  continued 
all  day,  and  effectually  prevented  our 
sailing.  I  therefore  sent  a  party  over 
to  the  east  point  of  the  bay  to  cut 
grass,  having  been  informed  that 
some  of  a  superior  quality  grew  there. 
Another  party,  to  cut  wood,  was 
ordered  to  go  to  the  usual  place,  and 
I  accompanied  them  myself.  We  had 
observed  several  of  the  natives  this 
morning  sauntering  along  the  shore, 
which  assured  us,  that  though  their 
consternation  had  made  them  leave 
us  so  abruptly  the  day  before,  tliey 
were  convinced  that  we  intended  them 
no  mischief,  and  were  desirous  of  re- 
newing the  intercourse.  It  was  natu- 
ral that  I  should  wish  to  be  present 
on  the  occasion.  We  had  not  been 
long  landed  before  about  twenty  of 
them,  men  and  boys,  joined  us,  with- 
out expressing  the  least  sign  of  fear 
or  distrust.  There  was  one  of  this 
company  conspicuously  deformed,  and 
who  was  not  more  distinguishable  by 
the  hump  upon  his  back  than  by  the 
drollery  of  his  gestures  and  the  seem- 
ing humour  of  his  speeches,  which  he 
was  very  fond  of  exhibiting,  as  we 
supposed,  for  our  entertainment.  But, 
unfortunately,  we  could  not  under- 


87 

stand  him  ;  the  language  spoken  here 
being  wholly  unintelligible  to  us.  It 
appeared  to  me  to  be  different  from 
that  spoken  by  the  inhabitants  of  the 
more  northern  parts  of  this  country 
whom  I  met  with  in  my  first  voyage, 
which  is  not  extraordinary,  since  those 
we  now  saw,  and  those  we  then  visited, 
differ  in  many  other  respects. l  Nor 
did  they  seem  to  be  such  miserable 
wretches  as  the  natives  whom  Dampier 
mentions  to  have  seen  on  its  western 
coast.  Some  of  our  present  group 
wore,  loose  round  their  necks,  three 
or  four  folds  of  small  cord  made  of 
the  fur  of  some  animal ;  and  others  of 
them  had  a  narrow  slip  of  the  kan- 
garoo skin  tied  round  their  ancles.  I 
gave  to  each  of  them  a  string  of  beads 
and  a  medal,  which  I  thought  they 
received  with  some  satisfaction.  They 
seemed  to  set  no  value  on  iron  or  on 
iron  tools.  They  were  even  ignorant 
of  the  use  of  fish-hooks,  if  we  might 
judge  from  their  manner  of  looking  at 
some  of  ours  which  we  showed  to 
them.  We  cannot,  however,  suppose 
it  to  be  possible  that  a  people  who 
inhabit  a  sea  coast,  and  who  seem  to 
derive  no  part  of  their  sustenance 
from  the  productions  of  the  ground, 
should  not  be  acquainted  with  some 
mode  of  catching  fish,  although  we 
did  not  happen  to  see  any  of  them 
thus  employed,  nor  observe  any  canoe 
or  vessel  in  which  they  could  go  upon 
the  water.  Though  they  absolutely  re- 
jected the  sort  of  fish  that  we  offered  to 
them,  it  was  evident  that  shell-fish,  at 
least,  made  a  part  of  their  food,  from 
the  many  heaps  of  mussel-shells  we  saw 
in  different  parts  near  the  shore,  and 
about  some  deserted  habitations  near 
the  head  of  the  bay.  These  were  little 
sheds  or  hovels  built  of  sticks  and 
covered  with  bark.  We  could  als« 
perceive  evident  signs  of  their  some- 

1  The  most  striking  difference  seem- 
ed to  be  with  regard  to  the  texture  of 
the  hair.  The  natives  whom  Captain 
Cook  met  with  at  Endeavour  River  in 
1769  are  said  by  him  to  have  natur- 
ally long  and  black  hair,  though  it 
be  universally  cropped  short. 


88 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.         [VoY.  III.  B.  I.  CH.  VI. 


times  taking  up  their^  abode  in  the  i 
trunks  of  large  trees,  which  had  been 
followed  out  by  fire  most  probably 
for  this  rery  purpose.  In  or  near 
all  these  habitations,  and  -wherever 
there  was  a  heap  of  shells,  there  re- 
mained the  marks  of  fire,  an  indubit- 
able proof  that  they  do  not  eat  their 
food  raw. 

After  staying  about  an  hour  with 
the  wooding  party  and  the  natives,  as 
I  could  now  be  pretty  confident  that 
the  latter  were  not  likely  to  give  the 
former  any  disturbance,  I  left  them, 
and  went  over  to  the  grass-cutters  on 
the  east  point  of  the  bay,  and  found 
that  they  had  met  with  a  fine  patch. 
Having  seen  the  boats  loaded,  I  left 
that  party  and  returned  on  board  to 
dinner,  where,  some  time  after,  Lieu- 
tenant King  arrived.  From  him  I 
learned  that  I  had  bnt  just  left  the 
shore  when  several  women  and  chil- 
dren made  their  appearance,  and  were 
introduced  to  him  by  some  of  the  men 
who  attended  them.  He  gave  pre- 
sents to  all  of  them  of  such  trifles  as 
he  had  about  him.  These  females 
wore  a  kangaroo  skin  (in  the  same 
shape  as  it  came  from  the  animal) 
tied  over  the  shoulders  and  round  the 
waist.  But  its  only  use  seemed  to  be 
to  support  their  children  when  car- 
ried on  their  backs,  for  it  did  not 
cover  those  parts  which  most  nations 
conceal ;  being  in  all  other  respects  as 
naked  as  the  men,  and  as  black,  and 
their  bodies  marked  with  scars  in  the 
same  manner.  Bnt  in  this  they  dif- 
fered from  the  men,  that  though  their 
hair  was  of  the  same  colour  and  tex- 
ture, some  of  them  had  their  heads 
completely  shorn  or  shaved  ;  in  others 
this  operation  had  been  performed 
only  on  one  side,  while  the  rest  of 
them  had  all  the  upper  part  of  the 
head  shorn  close,  leaving  a  circle  of 
hair  all  round,  somewhat  like  the 
tonsure  of  the  Romish  ecclesiastics. 
Many  of  the  children  had  fine  features, 
and  were  thought  pretty ;  but  of  the 
persons  of  the  women,  especially  those 
advanced  in  years,  a  less  favourable 
report  was  made.  However,  some 
of  the  gentlemen  belonging  to  the 
Discovery,  I  was  told,  paid  their 


addresses,and  made  liberal  offersof  pre- 
sents, which  were  rejected  with  great 
disdain ;  whether  from  a  sense  of 
virtue,  or  the  fear  of  displeasing  their 
men,  I  shall  not  pretend  to  determine. 
That  this  gallantry  was  not  very  agree- 
able to  the  latter,  is  certain  ;  for  an 
elderly  man,  as  soon  as  he  observed  it, 
ordered  all  the  women  and  children 
to  retire,  which  they  obeyed,  though 
some  of  them  showed  a  little  reluct- 
ance. 

This  conduct  of  Europeans  amongst 
savages  to  their  women  is  highly 
blamable,  as  it  creates  a  jealousy  in 
their  men  that  may  be  attended  with 
consequences  fatal  to  the  success  of 
the  common  enterprise,  and  to  the 
whole  body  of  adventurers,  without 
advancing  the  private  purpose  of  the 
individual,  or  enabling  him  to  gain 
the  object  of  his  wishes.  I  believe  it 
has  been  generally  found,  amongst 
uncivilised  people,  that  where  the 
women  are  easy  of  access  the  men  are 
the  first  to  offer  them  to  strangers ; 
and  that,  where  this  is  not  the  case, 
neither  the  allurement  of  presents  nor 
the  opportunity  of  privacy,  will  be 
likely  to  have  the  desired  effect.  This 
observation,  I  am  sure,  will  hold  good 
throughout  all  the  parts  of  the  South 
Sea  where  I  have  been.  Why,  then, 
should  men  act  so  absurd  a  part  as  to 
risk  their  own  safety,  and  that  of  all 
their  companions,  *in  pursuit  of  a 
gratification  which  they  have  no  pro- 
bability of  obtaining  ? 

In  the  afternoon  1  went  again  to  the 
grass-cutters  to  forward  their  work. 
I  found  them  then  upon  Penguin 
Island,  where  they  had  met  with  a 
plentiful  crop  of  excellent  grass.  AVe 
laboured  hard  till  sunset,  and  then 
repaired  on  board  satisfied  with  the 
quantity  we  had  collected,  which  1 
judged  sufficient  to  last  till  our  arrival 
in  New  Zealand.  During  our  whole 
stay  we  had  cither  calms  or  light  airs 
from  the  eastward.  Little  or  no  time, 
therefore,  was  lost  by  my  putting  in 
at  this  place.  For  if  I  had  kept  the 
sea,  we  should  not  have  been  twenty 
leagues  advanced  farther  on  our  voy- 
age ;  and,  short  as  our  continuance 
was  here,  it  has  enabled  me  to  add 


FEB.  1777.] 


ARRIVAL  AT  NEW  ZEALAND. 


somewhat  to  the  imperfect  acquaint- 
ance that  has  hitherto  been  acquired 
with  this  part  of  the  globe.1 


CHAPTER  VII. 

AT  8  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the 
30th  of  January,  a  light  breeze  spring- 
ing up  at  W.,  we  weighed  anchor, 
and  put  to  sea  from  Adventure  Bay. 
Soon  after,  the  wind  veered  to  the 
southward,  and  increased  to  a  perfect 
storm.  Its  fury  abated  in  the  even- 
ing, when  it  veered  to  the  E.  and 
K E.  "We  pursued  our  course  to  the 
eastward  without  meeting  with  any- 
thing worthy  of  note,  till  the  night 
between  the  6th  and  7th  of  February, 
when  a  marine  belonging  to  the  Dis- 
covery fell  overboard  and  was  never 
seen  afterward.  This  was  the  second 
misfortune  of  the  kind  that  had  hap- 
pened to  Captain  Clerke  since  he  left 
England.' 

On  the  10th,  at  four  in  the  after- 
noon, we  discovered  the  land  of  New 
Zealand.  The  part  we  saw  proved  to 
be  Rocks  Point,  and  bore  SE.  by  S., 
about  eight  or  nine  leagues  distant. 
After  making  the  land,  I  steered  for 
Cape  Farewell,  which  at  daybreak 
the  next  morning  bore  S.  by  W., 
distant  about  four  leagues.  At  8 
o'clock  it  bore  SW.  by  S.,  about  five 
leagues  distant ;  and  in  this  situa- 
tion, we  had  forty-five  fathoms  water 
over  a  sandy  bottom.  In  rounding 
the  Cape  we  had  fifty  fathoms,  and 
the  same  sort  of  bottom.  I  now 
steered  for  Stephen's  Island,  which 
we  came  up  with  at  9  o'clock  at 
night ;  and  at  ten  next  morning, 
anchored  in  our  old  station  in  Queen 
Charlotte's  Sound.  Unwilling  to  lose 
anytime,  our  operations  commenced 
that  very  afternoon,  when  we  landed 
a  number  of  empty  watercasks,  and 
began  to  clear  a  place  where  we  might 

1  Several  pages  of  naturalistic  and 
other  observations  on  Van  Diemen's 
Land,  by  Mr  Anderson— valuable  and 
novel  in  their  day,  but  now  devoid  of 
interest— are  here  omitted. 


set  up  the  two  observatories,  and 
tents  for  the  reception  of  a  guard  and 
of  such  of  our  people  whose  business 
might  make  it  necessary  for  them  to 
remain  on  shore. 

We  had  not  been  long  at  anchor 
before  several  canoes,  filled  with 
natives,  came  alongside  of  the  ships  ; 
but  very  few  of  them  would  venture 
on  board,  which  appeared  the  more 
extraordinary,  as  I  was  well  known 
to  them  all.  There  was  one  man  in 
particular  amongst  them  whom  I  had 
treated  with  remarkable  kindness 
during  the  whole  of  my  stay  when  I 
was  last  here.  Yet  now  neither  pro- 
fessions of  friendship  nor  presents 
could  prevail  upon  him  to  come  into 
the  ship.  This  shyness  was  to  be 
accounted  for  only  upon  this  sup- 
position, that  they  were  apprehensive 
we  had  revisited  their  country  in 
order  to  revenge  the  death  of  Captain 
Furneaux's  people.  Seeing  Omai  on 
board  my  ship  now,  whom  they  must 
have  remembered  to  have  seen  on 
board  the  Adventure  when  the  mel- 
ancholy affair  happened,  and  whose 
first  conversation  with  them,  as  they 
approached,  generally  turned  on  that 
subject,  they  must  be  well  assured 
that  I  was  no  longer  a  stranger  to  it. 
I  thought  it  necessary,  therefore,  to 
use  every  endeavour  to  assure  them 
of  the  continuance  of  my  friendship, 
and  that  I  should  not  disturb  them 
on  that  account.  I  do  not  know 
whether  this  had  any  weight  with 
them  ;  but  certain  it  is,  that  they 
very  soon  laid  aside  all  manner  of 
restraint  and  distrust. 

On  the  13th  we  set  up  two  tents, 
one  from  each  ship,  on  the  same  spot 
where  we  had  pitched  them  formerly. 
The  observatories  were  at  the  same 
time  erected ;  and  Messrs  King  and 
Bayly  began  their  operations  imme- 
diately, to  find  the  rate  of  the  time- 
keeper, and  to  make  other  observa- 
tions. The  remainder  of  the  empty 
water- casks  were  also  sent  on  shore, 
with  the  cooper  to  trim  and  a  suffi- 
cient number  of  sailors  to  fill  them. 
Two  men  were  appointed  to  brew 
spruce  beer,  and  the  carpenter  and 
his  crew  were  ordered  to  cut  wood, 


DO 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.        [YoY.III.B.I.CH.  VIL 


A  boat,  with  a  party  of  men,  under 
the  direction  of  one  of  the  mates,  was 
sent  to  collect  grass  for  our  cattle ; 
and  the  people  that  remained  on 
board  were  employed  in  refitting  the 
ship,  and  arranging  the  provisions. 
In  this  manner  we  were  all  profitably 
busied  during  our  stay.  For  the  pro- 
tection of  the  party  on  shore,  I  ap- 
pointed a  guard  of  ten  marines,  and 
ordered  arms  for  all  the  workmen  ; 
and  Mr  King  and  two  or  three  petty 
officers,  constantly  remained  with 
them.  A  boat  was  never  sent  to  any 
considerable  distance  from  the  ships 
without  being  armed,  and  under  the 
direction  of  such  officers  as  I  could 
depend  upon,  and  who  were  well  ac- 
quainted with  the  natives.  During 
my  former  visits  to  this  country,  I 
had  never  taken  some  of  these  pre- 
cautions ;  nor  were  they,  I  firmly  be- 
lieve, more  necessary  now  than  they 
had  been  formerly.  But  after  the 
tragical  fate  of  the  Adventure's  boat's 
crew  in  this  sound,  and  of  Captain 
Marion  du  Fresne,  and  of  some  of  his 
people,  in  the  Bay  of  Islands,1  it  was 
impossible  totally  to  divest  ourselves 
of  all  apprehension  of  experiencing 
a  similar  calamity. 

f  If  the  natives  entertained  any  sus- 
picion of  our  revenging  these  acts  of 
barbarity,  they  very  soon  laid  it  aside. 
For,  during  the  course  of  this  day,  a 
great  number  of  families  came  from 
different  parts  of  the  coast,  and  took 
Tip  their  residence  close  to  us  ;  so 
that  there  was  not  a  spot  in  the  cove 
where  a  hut  could  be  put  up,  that 
was  not  occupied  by  them,  except  the 
place  where  we  had  fixed  our  little 
encampment.  This  they  left  us  in 
quiet  possession  of;  but  they  came 
and  took  away  the  ruins  of  some  old 
huts  that  were  there,  as  materials  for 
their  new  erections.  It  is  curious  to 
observe  with  what  facility  they  build 
these  occasional  places  of  abode.  I 
have  seen  above  twenty  of  them 
erected  on  a  spot  of  ground  that,  not 
an  hour  before,  was  covered  with 
shrubs  and  plants.  They  generally 
bring  some  part  of  the  materials  with 

1  In  1772. 


them  ;  the  rest  they  find  upon  the 
premises.  I  was  present  when  a 
number  of  people  landed,  and  built 
one  of  these  villages.  The  moment 
the  canoes  reached  thfc  shore,  the  men 
leaped  out,  and  at  once  took  posses- 
sion of  a  piece  of  ground,  by  tearing 
up  the  plants  and  shrubs,  or  sticking 
up  some  part  of  the  framing  of  a  hut. 
They  then  returned  to  their  canoes, 
and  secured  their  weapons  by  setting 
them  up  against  a  tree,  or  placing  them 
in  such  a  position  that  they  could  be 
laid  hold  of  in  an  instant.  I  took 
particular  notice  that  no  one  neglected 
this  precaution.  While  the  men  were 
employed  in  raising  the  huts,  the 
women  were  not  idle.  Some  were 
stationed  to  take  care  of  the  canoes  ; 
others  to  secure  the  provisions,  and 
the  few  utensils  in  their  possession ; 
and  the  rest  went  to  gather  dry  sticks, 
that  a  fire  might  be  prepared  for  dress- 
ing their  victuals.  As  to  the  children, 
I  kept  them,  as  also  some  of  the  more 
aged,  sufficiently  occupied  in  scram« 
bling  for  beads,  till  I  had  emptied 
my  pockets,  and  then  I  left  them. 
These  temporary  habitations  are  abun- 
dantly sufficient  to  afford  shelter  from 
the  wind  and  rain,  which  is  the  only 
purpose  they  are  meant  to  answer.  I 
observed  that  generally,  if  not  always, 
the  same  tribe  or  family,  though  it 
were  ever  so  large,  associated  and 
built  together  ;  so  that  we  frequently 
saw  a  village,  as  well  as  their  larger 
towns,  divided  into  different  districts 
by  low  pallisades,  or  some  similar 
mode  of  separation. 

The  advantage  we  received  from 
the  natives  coming  to  live  with  us 
was  not  inconsiderable.  For  every 
day,  when  the  weather  would  permit, 
some  of  them  went  out  to  catch  fish  ; 
and  we  generally  got,  by  exchanges, 
a  good  share  of  the  produce  of  their 
labours.  This  supply,  and  what  our 
own  nets  and  lines  afforded  us,  was  so 
ample,  that  we  seldom  were  in  want 
of  fish.  Nor  was  there  any  deficiency 
of  other  refreshments.  Celery,  scurvy- 
grass,  and  portable  soup  were  boiled 
with  the  pease  and  wheat,  for  both 
ships'  companies,  every  day  during 
our  whole  stay ;  and  they  had  spruce- 


FEB.  1777.]  NEWS  OF  MASSACRE 
beer  for  their  drink,  so  that,  if  any  I 
of  our  people  had  contracted  the  ' 
seeds  of  the  scurvy,  such  a  regimen 
soon  removed  them.  But  the  truth 
is,  when  we  arrived  here,  there  were 
only  two  invalids  (and  these  on  board 
the  Resolution)  upon  the  sick  lists  in 
both  ships.  Besides  the  natives  who 
took  up  their  abode  close  to  us,  we 
were  occasionally  visited  by  others  of 
them  whose  residence  was  not  far  off, 
and  by  some  who  lived  more  remote. 
Their  articles  of  commerce  were  curi- 
osities, fish,  and  women.  The  two 
first  always  came  to  a  good  market ; 
which  the  latter  did  not.  The  sea- 
men had  taken  a  kind  of  dislike  to 
these  people,  and  were  either  unwill- 
ing or  afraid  to  associate  with  them  ; 
which  produced  this  good  effect,  that 
I  knew  no  instance  of  a  man's  quit- 
ting his  station  to  go  to  their  habita- 
tions. 

Amongst  our  occasional  visitors 
was  a  chief  named  Kahoora,  who,  as 
I  was  informed,  headed  the  party 
that  cut  off  Captain  Furneaux's 
people,  and  himself  killed  Mr  Rowe, 
the  officer  who  commanded.  To  judge 
of  the  character  of  Kahoora,  by  what 
I  heard  from  many  of  his  country- 
men, he  seemed  to  be  more  feared 
than  beloved  amongst  them.  Not 
satisfied  with  telling  me  that  he  was 
a  very  bad  man,  some  of  them  even 
importuned  me  to  kill  him  ;  and,  I 
believe,  they  were  not  a  little  sur- 
prised that  I  did  not  listen  to  them  ; 
for,  according  to  their  ideas  of  equity, 
this  ought  to  have  been  done.  But 
if  I  had  followed  the  advice  of  all  our 
pretended  friends,  I  might  have  ex- 
tirpated the  whole  race ;  for  the 
people  of  each  hamlet  or  village,  by 
turns,  applied  to  me  to  destroy  the 
other.  One  would  have  almost 
thought  it  impossible  that  so  striking 
a  proof  of  the  divided  state  in  which 
this  miserable  people  live  could  have 
been  assigned.  And  yet  1  was  sure  that 
I  did  not  misconceive  the  meaning  of 
those  who  made  these  strange  appli- 
cations to  me ;  for  Omai,  whose  lan- 
guage was  a  dialect  of  their  own,  and 
perfectly  understood  all  that  they 
said,  was  our  interpfeter. 


OF  ADVENTURE'S  CREW.  91 
On  the  15th,  I  made  an  excursion 
in  my  boat  to  look  fo*  grass,  and 
visited  the  "hippah,"  or  fortified 
village,1  at  the  SW.  point  of  Motuara, 
and  the  places  where  our  gardens  had 
been  planted  on  that  island.  There 
were  no  people  at  the  former ;  but 
the  houses  and  pallisades  had  been 
rebuilt,  and  were  now  in  a  state  of 
good  repair ;  and  there  were  other 
evident  marks  of  its  having  been  in- 
habited not  long  before. 

When  the  Adventure  arrived  first 
at  Queen  Charlotte's  Sound,  in  1773, 
Mr  Bayly  fixed  upon  this  place  for 
making  his  observations  ;  and  he  and 
the  people  with  him,  at  their  leisure 
hours,  planted  several  spots  with 
English  garden  seeds.  Not  the  least 
vestige  of  these  now  remained.  It  is 
probable  that  they  had  been  all  rooted 
out  to  make  room  for  buildings, 
when  the  village  was  re-inhabited ; 
for  at  all  the  other  gardens  then 
planted  by  Captain  Furneaux,  al- 
though now  wholly  overrun  with 
the  weeds  of  the  country,  we  found 
cabbages,  onions,  leeks,  purslane, 
radishes,  mustard,  &c.,  and  a  few 
potatoes.  These  potatoes,  which 
were  first  brought  from  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope,  had  been  greatly  im- 
proved by  change  of  soil  ;  and,  with 
proper  cultivation,  would  be  superior 
to  those  produced  in  most  other 
countries.  Though  the  New  Zea- 
landers  are  fond  of  this  root,  it  was 
evident  that  they  had  not  taken 
the  trouble  to  plant  a  single  one 
(much  less  any  other  of  the  articles 
which  we  had  introduced) ;  and  if  it 
were  not  for  the  difficulty  of  clearing 
ground  where  potatoes  had  been  once 
planted,  there  would  not  have  been 
any  now  remaining. 

On  the  16th,  at  daybreak,  I  set  out 
with  a  party  of  men,  in  five  boats,  to 
collect  food  for  our  cattle.  Captain 


1  Of  which  a  minute  description  is 
given  in  the  account  of  Cook's  first 
voyage,  in  Hawkesworth's  Collection. 
The  hippahs,  or  pahs,  of  New  Zea- 
land have  become  painfully  familiar 
to  English  minds  by  the  experiences 
of  the  late  war  in  that  colouy. 


92 


Clerke,  and  several  of  the  officers, 
Omai,  and  two  of  the  natives,  accom- 
panied me.  We  proceeded  about 
three  leagues  up  the  sound,  and  then 
landed  on  the  east  side,  at  a  place 
where  I  had  formerly  heen.  Here  we 
cut  as  much  grass  as  loaded  the  two 
launches.  As  we  returned  down  the 
sound,  we  visited  Grass  Cove,  the 
memorable  scene  of  the  massacre  of 
Captain  Furneaux's  people. 

"We  stayed  here  till  the  evening, 
when,  having  loaded  the  rest  of  the 
boats  with  grass,  celery,  scurvy-grass, 
&c.,  we  embarked  to.  return  to  the 
ships.  We  had  prevailed  upon  Pedro 
to  launch  his  canoe  and  accompany 
us ;  but  we  had  scarcely  put  off  from 
the  shore,  when  the  wind  began  to 
blow  very  hard  at  NW.,  which  obliged 
him  to  put  back.  We  proceeded  our- 
selves, but  it  was  with  a  good  deal  of 
difficulty  that  we  could  reach  the 
ships,  where  some  of  the  boats  did 
not  arrive  till  1  o'clock  the  next 
morning;  and  it  was  fortunate  that 
they  got  on  board  then,  for  it  after- 
ward blew  a  perfect  storm,  with  abun- 
dance of  rain,  so  that  no  manner  of 
work  could  go  forward  that  day.  In 
ths  evening  the  gale  ceased,  and  the 
wind  having  veered  to  the  east, 
brought  with  it  fair  weather.  The 
next  day  we  resumed  our  works ;  the 
natives  ventured  out  to  catch  fish; 
and  Pedro,  with  all  his  family,  came 
and  took  up  his  abode  near  us.  This 
chief's  proper  name  is  Matahouah; 
the  other  being  given  him  by  some  of 
my  people  during  my  last  voyage, 
which  I  did  not  know  till  now.  He 
was,  however,  equally  well  known 
amongst  his  countrymen  by  both 
names. 

On  the  20th,  in  the  forenoon,  we 
Lad  another  storm  from  the  NW. 
Though  this  was  not  of  so  long  con- 
tinuance as  the  former,  the  gusts  of 
wind  from  the  hills  were  far  more 
violent,  insomuch  that  we  were 
obliged  to  strike  the  yards  and  top- 
masts to  the  very  utmost ;  and,  even 
with  all  this  precaution,  it  was  with 
difficulty  that  we  rode  it  out.  These 
storms  are  very  frequent  here,  and 
sometimes  violent  and  troublesome. 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.         [YoY.III.B.I.CH.VII. 

The  neighbouring  mountains,  which 


at  these  times  are  always  loaded  with 
vapours,  not  only  increase  the  force 
of  the  wind,  but  alter  its  direction  in 
such  a  manner,  that  no  two  blasts 
follow  each  other  from  the  same  quar- 
ter; and  the  nearer  the  shore,  the 
more  their  effects  are  felt.  The  next 
day  we  were  visited  by  a  tribe  or 
family  consisting  of  about  thirty 
persons,  men,  women,  and  children, 
who  came  from  the  upper  part  of  the 
sound.  I  had  never  seen  them  be- 
fore. The  name  of  their  chief  was 
Tomatongeauooranuc,  a  man  of  about 
forty -five  years  of  age,  with  a  cheerful 
open  countenance;  and,  indeed,  the 
rest  of  his  tribe  were,  in  general,  the 
handsomest  of  the  New  Zealand  race 
I  had  ever  met  with.  By  this  time 
more  than  two-thirds  of  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  sound  had  settled  them- 
selves about  us.  Great  numbers  of 
them  daily  frequented  the  ships  and 
the  encampment  on  shore;  but  the 
latter  became  by  far  the  most  favourite 
place  of  resort,  while  our  people  there 
were  melting  some  seal  blubber.  No 
Greenlander  was  ever  fonder  of  train 
oil  than  our  friends  here  seem  to  be. 
They  relished  the  very  skimmings  of 
the  kettle  and  dregs  of  the  casks; 
but  a  little  of  the  pure  stinking  oil 
was  a  delicious  foist,  so  eagerly  de- 
sired, that  I  supposed  it  is  seldom 
enjoyed. 

Having  got  on  board  as  much  hay 
and  grass  as  we  judged  sufficient  to 
serve  the  cattle  till  our  arrival  at 
Otaheite,  and  having  completed  the 
wood  ani  water  of  both  ships,  on  the 
23d  we  struck  our  tents,  and  carried 
everything  off  from  the  shore;  and 
next  morning  we  weighed  anchor  and 
stood  out  of  the  cove.  But  the  wind 
not  being  very  fair,  and  finding  that 
the  tide  of  ebb  would  be  spent  before 
we  could  get  out  of  the  sound,  we 
cast  anchor  again  a  little  without  the 
Island  Motuara,  to  wait  for  a  more 
favourable  opportunity  cf  putting  into 
the  strait.  While  we  were  unmooring 
and  getting  under  sail,  Tomaton- 
geauooranuc, Matahouah,  and  many 
more  of  the  natives,  came  to  take 
their  leave  of  us,  or  rather  to  obtain, 


FEB.  1777.] 


LIVE  STOCK  LEFT  ASHORE. 


93 


if  they  could,  some  additional  present 
from  us  before  we  left  them.  These 
two  chiefs  became  suitors  to  me  for 
some  goats  and  hogs.  Accordingly, 
I  gave  to  Matahouah  two  goats,  a 
male  and  female  with  kid ;  and  to 
Tomatongeauooranuc  two  pigs,  a  boar 
and  a  sow.  They  made  me  a  pro- 
mise not  to  kill  them,  though  I  must 
own  I  put  no  great  faith  in  this.  The 
animals  which  Captain  Furneaux  sent 
on  shore  here,  and  which  soon  after 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  natives,  I 
was  now  told  were  all  dead  ;  but  I 
could  get  no  intelligence  about  the 
fate  of  those  I  had  left  in  West  Bay, 
and  in  Cannibal  Cove,  when  I  was 
here  in  the  course  of  my  last  voyage. 
However,  all  the  natives  whom  1  con- 
versed with  agreed  that  poultry  are 
now  to  be  met  with  wild  in  the  woods 
behind  Ship  Cove  ;  and  I  was  after- 
ward informed,  by  the  two  youths 
who  went  away  with  us,  that  Tiratou, 
a  popular  chief  amongst  them,  had  a 
great  many  cocks  and  hens  in  his 
separate  possession,  and  one  of  the 
sows. 

On  my  present  arrival  at  this  place, 
I  fully  intended  to  have  left  not  only 
goats  and  hogs,  but  sheep,  and  a 
young  bull,  with  two  heifers,  if  I 
could  have  found  eitner  a  chief  power- 
ful enough  to  protect  and  keep  them, 
or  a  place  where  there  might  be  a 
probability  of  their  being  concealed 
from  those  who  would  ignorantly 
attempt  to  destroy  them.  But  neither 
the  one  nor  the  other  presented  itself 
to  me.  I  could  not  learn  that  there 
remained  in  our  neighbourhood  any 
tribe  whose  numbers  could  secure  to 
them  a  superiority  of  power  over  the 
rest  of  their  countrymen.  To  have 
given  the  animals  to  any  of  the  na- 
tives who  possessed  no  such  power, 
would  not  have  answered  the  inten- 
tion ;  for  in  a  country  like  this,  where 
no  man's  property  is  secure,  they 
would  soon  have  fallen  a  prey  to  dif- 
ferent parties,  and  been  either  sepa- 
rated or  killed  ;  but  most  likely  both. 
This  was  so  evident,  from  what  we 
had  observed  since  our  arrival,  that  I 
had  resolved  to  leave  no  kind  of  ani- 
mal, till  Matahouah  and  the  other 


chief  solicited  me  for  the  hogs  and 
goats.  As  I  could  spare  them,  I  let 
them  go,  to  take  their  chance.  I 
have,  at  different  times,  left  in  New 
Zealand  no  less  than  ten  or  a  dozen 
hogs,  besides  those  put  on  shore  by 
Captain  Furneaux.  It  will  be  a  little 
extraordinary,  therefore,  if  this  race 
should  not  increase  and  be  preserved 
here,  either  in  a  wild  or  in  a  domestic 
state,  or  in  both. 

"We  had  not  been  long  at  anchor 
near  Motuara  before  three  or  four 
canoes  filled  with  natives  came  off  to 
us  from  the  south-east  side  of  the 
sound,  and  a  brisk  trade  was  carried 
on  with  them  for  the  curiosities  of 
this  place.  In  one  of  these  canoes 
was  Kahoora,  whom  I  have  already 
mentioned  as  the  leader  of  the  party 
who  cut  off  the  crew  of  the  Adven- 
ture's boat.  This  was  the  third  time 
he  had  visited  us  without  betraying 
the  smallest  appearance  of  fear.  I  was 
ashore  when  he  now  arrived,  but  Jiad 
got  on  board  just  as  he  was  going 
away.  Omai,  who  had  returned  with 
me,  presently  pointed  him  out  and 
solicited  me  to  shoot  him.  Not  satis- 
fied with  this,  he  addressed  himself  to 
Kahoora,  threatening  to  be  his  execu- 
tioner if  ever  he  presumed  to  visit  us 
again.  The  New  Zealander  paid  so 
little  regard  to  these  threats  that  he 
returned  the  next  morning  with  his 
whole  family — men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren—to the  number  of  twenty  and 
upwards.  Omai  was  the  first  who 
acquainted  me  with  his  being  along- 
side the  ship,  and  desired  to  know  if 
he  should  ask  him  to  come  on  board. 
I  told  him  he  might ;  and  accordingly 
he  introduced  the  chief  into  the  cabin, 
saying,  "  There  is  Kahoora ;  kill 
him ! "  But,  as  if  he  had  forgot  his 
former  threats,  or  were  afraid  that  I 
should  call  upon  him  to  perform  them, 
he  immediately  retired.  In  a  short 
time,  however,  he  returned  ;  and  see- 
ing the  chief  unhurt,  he  expostulated 
with  me  very  earnestly,  saying,  "Why 
do  you  not  kill  him  ?  You  tell  me  if 
a  man  kills  another  in  England  that 
he  is  hanged  for  it.  This  man  has 
killed  ten,  and  yet  you  will  not  kill 
him,  though  many  oi  his  countrymen 


94 

desire  it,  and  it  would  be  very  good. " 
Umai's  arguments,  though  specious 
enoiigh,  having  no  weight  with  me,  I 
desired  him  to  ask  the  chief  why  he 
had  killed  Captain  Furneaux's  people. 
At  this  question,  Kahoora  folded  his 
arms,  hung  down  his  head,  and  looked 
like  one  caught  in  a  trap ;  and  I  firmly 
believe  he  expected  instant  death. 
But  no  sooner  was  he  assured  of  his 
safety  than  he  became  cheerful.  He 
did  not,  however,  seem  willing  to  give 
me  an  answer  to  the  question  that 
had  been  put  to  him  till  I  had  again 
and  again  repeated  my  promise  that 
he  should  not  be  hurt.  Then  he  ven- 
tured to  tell  us  that  one  of  his  coun- 
trymen, having  brought  a  stone 
hatchet  to  barter,  the  man  to  whom 
it  was  offered  took  it,  and  would 
neither  return  it  nor  give  anything 
for  it ;  on  which  the  owner  of  it 
snatched  up  the  bread  as  an  equiva- 
lent, and  then  the  quarrel  began. 

The  remainder  of  Kahoora's  account 
of  this  unhappy  affair  differed  very 
little  from  what  we  had  before  learned 
from  the  rest  of  his  countrymen.  He 
mentioned  the  narrow  escape  he  had 
during  the  fray,  a  musket  being 
levelled  at  him,  which  he  avoided  by 
skulking  behind  the  boat,  and  another 
man  who  stood  close  to  him  was  shot 
dead.  As  soon  as  the  musket  was 
discharged,  he  instantly  seized  the 
opportunity  to  attack  Mr  Howe,  who 
commanded  the  party,  and  who  de- 
fended himself  with  his  hanger  (with 
which  he  wounded  Kahoora  in  the 
arm),  till  he  was  overpowered  by  num- 
bers. Mr  Burney,  who  was  sent  by 
Captain  Furneaux  the  next  day  with 
an  armed  party  to  look  for  his  missing 
people,  upon  discovering  the  horrid 
proofs  of  their  shocking  fate,  had  fired 
several  volleys  amongst  the  crowds  of 
natives  who  still  remained  assembled 
on  the  spot,  and  were,  probably,  par- 
taking of  the  detestable  banquet.  It 
was  natural  to  suppose  that  he  had 
not  fired  in  vain,  and  that  therefore 
some  of  the  murderers  and  devourers 
of  our  unhappy  countrymen  had  suf- 
fered under  our  just  resentment. 
Upon  inquiry,  however,  into  this 
matter,  not  only  from  Kahoora,  but 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.       [VoY.  III.  B.  I.  CH.  VII. 


from  others  who  had  opportunities 
of  knowing,  it  appeared  that  our 
supposition  was  groundless,  and  that 
not  one  of  the  shots  fired  by  Mr 
Barney's  people  had  taken  effect  so 
as  to  kill  or  even  to  hurt  a  single 
person. 

It  was  evident  that  most  of  the 
natives  we  had  met  with  since  our 
arrival,  as  they  knew  I  was  fully  ac- 
quainted with  the  history  of  the  mas- 
sacre, expected  I  should  avenge  it 
with  the  death  of  Kahoora.  And 
many  of  them  seemed  not  only  to 
wish  it,  but  expressed  their  surprise 
at  my  forbearance.  As  he  could  not 
be  ignorant  of  this,  it  was  a  matter  of 
wonder  to  me  that  he  put  himself  so 
often  in  my  power.  When  he  visited 
us  while  the  ships  lay  in  the  cove, 
confiding  in  the  number  of  his  friends 
that  accompanied  him,  he  might  think 
himself  safe.  But  his  two  last  visits 
had  been  made  under  such  circum- 
stances that  he  could  no  longer  rely 
upon  this.  We  were  then  at  anchor 
|  in  the  entrance  of  the  sound,  and  at 
I  some  distance  from  any  shore,  so  that 
he  could  not  have  any  assistance  from 
thence,  nor  flatter  himself  he  could 
have  the  means  of  making  his  escape 
had  I  determined  to  detain  him.  And 
yet,  after  his  first  fears  on  being  in- 
terrogated were  over,  he  was  so  far 
from  entertaining  any  uneasy  sensa- 
tions, that  on  seeing  a  portrait  of  one 
of  his  countrymen  hanging  up  in  the 
cabin  he  desired  to  have  his  own  por 
trait  drawn,  and  sat  till  Mr  Webber 
had  finished  it  without  marking  the 
least  impatience.  I  must  confess  I 
admired  his  courage,  and  was  not  a 
little  pleased  to  observe  the  extent  of 
the  confidence  he  put  in  me.  For  he 
placed  his  whole  safety  in  the  declar- 
ations I  had  uniformly  made  to  those 
who  solicited  his  death ;  that  I  had 
always  been  a  friend  to  them  all,  and 
would  continue  so,  unless  they  gave 
me  cause  to  act  otherwise  ;  that  as  to 
their  inhuman  treatment  of  our  people, 
I  should  think  no  more  of  it,  the 
transaction  having  happened  long  ago, 
and  when  I  was  not  present;  but 
that,  if  ever  they  made  a  second 
attempt  of  that  kind,  they  might 


FEB.  1777.]         TWO  YOUTHS  EMBARK  WITH  OMAI. 


rest  assured  of  feeling  the  weight  of 
my  resentment. 

For  some  time  before  we  arrived  at 
New  Zealand,  Omai  had  expressed  a 
desire  to  take  one  of  the  natives  with 
him  to  his  own  country.  We  had 
n,ot  been  there  many  days  before  he 
had  an  opportunity  of  being  gratified 
in  this,  for  a  youth  about  seventeen 
or  eighteen  years  of  age,  named  Ta- 
weiharooa,  offered  to  accompany  him, 
and  took  up  his  residence  on  board. 
I  paid  little  attention  to  this  at  first, 
imagining  that  he  would  leave  us 
when  we  were  about  to  depart,  and 
after  he  had  got  what  he  could  from 
Omai.  At  length,  finding  that  he 
was  fixed  in  his  resolution  to  go  with 
us,  and  having  learned  that  he  was 
the  only  son  of  a  deceased  chief ;  and 
that  his  mother,  still  living,  was  a 
woman  much  respected  here,  I  was 
apprehensive  that  Omai  had  deceived 
him  and  his  friends  by  giving  them 
hopes  and  assurances  of  his  being  sent 
back.  I  therefore  caused  it  to  be 
made"  known  to  them  all  that  if  the 
young  man  went  away  with  us  he 
would  never  return.  But  this  declar- 
ation seemed  to  make  no  sort  of  im- 
pression. The  afternoon  before  we 
left  the  cove,  Tiratoutou,  his  mother, 
came  on  board,  to  receive  her  last 
present  from  Omai.  The  same  even- 
ing, she  and  Taweiharooa  parted  with 
All  tho  marks  of  tender  affection  that 


95 

might  be  expected  between  a  parent 
and  a  child  who  were  never  to  meet 
again.  But  she  said  she  would  cry 
no  more  ;  and,  sure  enough,  she  kept 
her  word,  for  when  she  returned  the 
next  morning  to  take  her  last  farewell 
of  him,  all  the  time  she  was  on  board 
she  remained  quite  cheerful,  and  went 
away  wholly  unconcerned. 

That  Taweiharooa  might  be  sent 
away  in  a  manner  becoming  his  birth, 
another  youth  was  to  have  gone  with 
him  as  a  servant ;  and  with  this  view, 
as  we  supposed,  he  remained  on  board 
till  we  were  about  to  sail,  when  his 
friends  took  him  ashore.  However, 
his  place  was  supplied  next  morning 
by  another,  a  boy  of  about  nine  or 
ten  years  of  age,  named  Kokoa.  He 
was  presented  to  me  by  his  own 
father,  who,  I  believe,  would  have 
parted  with  his  dog  with  far  less  in- 
difference. The  very  little  clothing 
the  boy  had,  he  stripped  him  of,  and 
left  him  as  naked  as  he  was  born.  It 
was  to  no  purpose  that  I  endeavoured 
to  convince  these  people  of  the  impro- 
bability, or  rather  of  the  impossibility, 
of  these  youths  ever  returning  home. 
Not  one,  not  even  their  nearest  rela- 
tions, seemed  to  trouble  themselves 
about  their  future  fate.  Since  this 
was  the  case,  and  I  was  well  satisfied 
that  the  boys  would  be  no  losers  by 
exchange  of  place,  I  the  more  readily 
gave  my  consent  to  their  going.1 


BOOK    II. 

PROM   LEAVING   NEW   ZEALAND   TO   OUR   ARRIVAL  AT   OTAHEITE, 
OR   THE   SOCIETY    ISLANDS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

ON  the  25th,  at  10  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  a  light  breeze  springing  up 
at  NW.  by  W.,  we  weighed,  stood  out 
of  the  sound,  and  made  sail  through 
the  strait,  with  the  Ditbovery  in  com- 
pany. We  had  hardly  got  the  length 
of  Capo  Tierawhitte,  when  the  wind 


took  us  aback  at  SE.  It  continued 
in  this  quarter  till  2  o'clock  the 
next  morning,  when  we  had  a  few 


1  Omission  is  made  of  the  remain- 
der of  this  Chapter,  and  of  Chapter 
VIII.— the  latter  entirely  written  by 
Mr  Anderson — which  are  occupied 
with  dissertations  on  the  morals, 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.          [VoY.  III.  B.  II.  CH.  I. 


hours'  calm.  After  which  we  had  a 
breeze  at  N.  ;  but  here  it  fixed  not 
long,  before  it  veered  to  the  E.,  and 
after  that  to  the  S.  At  length,  on  the 
27th,  at  8  o'clock  in  the  morning,  we 
took  our  departure  from  Cape  Palliser. 
We  had  a  fine  gale,  and  I  steered  E. 
by  N.  We  had  no  sooner  lost  sight 
of  the  land  than  our  two  New  Zealand 
adventurers,  the  sea  sickness  they  now 
experienced  giving  a  turn  to  their  re- 
flections, repented  heartily  of  the  step 
they  had  taken.  All  the  soothing 
encouragement  we  could  think  of 
availed  but  little.  They  wept,  both 
in  public  and  in  private,  and  made 
their  lamentations  in  a  kind  of  song, 
which,  as  far  as  we  could  comprehend 
the  meaning  of  the  words,  was  expres- 
sive of  their  praises  of  their  country 
and  people,  from  which  they  were  to 
be  separated  for  ever.  Thus  they 
continued  for  many  days,  till  their 
sea  sickness  wore  off,  and  the  tumult 
of  their  minds  began  to  subside.  Then 
these  fits  of  lamentation  became  less 
and  less  frequent,  and  at  length  en- 
tirely ceased.  Their  native  country 
and  their  friends  were  by  degrees  for- 
got, and  they  appeared  to  be  as  firmly 
attached  to  us  as  if  they  had  been 
born  amongst  us. 

On  the  29th  [of  March],  at  ten  in  the 
morning,  as  we  were  standing  to  the 
NE.,  the  Discovery  made  the  signal  of 
seeing  land.  We  saw  it  from  the  mast- 
head almost  the  same  moment,  bear- 
ing NE.  by  E.  by  compass.  We  soon 
discovered  it  to  be  an  island  of  no 
great  extent,  and  stood  for  it  till  sun- 
set, when  it  bore  NNE.,  distant  about 
two  or  three  leagues.  The  night  was 
spent  in  standing  off  and  on,  and  at 
daybreak  the  next  morning  I  bore  up 
for  the  lee  or  west  side  of  the  island^ 
as  neither  anchorage  nor  landing  ap- 
peared to  be  practicable  on  the  south 
side,  on  account  of  a  great  surf  which 
broke  everywhere  with  violence  against 
the  shore,  or  against  the  reef  that  sur- 
rounded it. 


manners,  an<l  customs,  &c.,  &c.,  of  the 
New  Zealanders,  but  do  not  in  any 
way  relate  to  the  actual  transactions 
of  the  voyage. 


We  presently  found  that  the  island 
was  inhabited,  and  saw  several  people 
on  a  point  of  the  land  we  had  passed, 
wading  to  the  reef,  where,   as  they 
found  the  ship  leaving  them  quickly, 
they  remained.    But  others,  who  soon 
appeared  in  different  parts,  followed 
her  course,  and  sometimes  several  of 
them  collected  into  small  bodies,  who 
made  a  shouting  noise  all  together, 
nearly  after  the  manner  of  the  inha- 
bitants of  New  Zealand.     Between  7 
and  8  o'clock,  we  were  at  the  WNW. 
part  of  the  island,  and,  being  near 
the  shore,  we  could  perceive  with  our 
glasses  that  several  of  the  natives, 
who  appeared  upon  a  sandy  beach, 
were  all  armed  with  long  spears  and 
clubs,  which  they  brandished  in  the 
air  with  signs  of  threatening,  or  as 
some  on  board  interpreted  their  atti- 
tudes, with  invitations  to  land.    Most 
of  them  appeared  naked,  except  having 
a  sort  of  girdle,  which,  being  brought 
up  between  the  thighs,  covered  that 
part  of  the  body.     But  some  of  them 
had  pieces  of  cloth  of  different  colours, 
white,  striped,  or  chequered,  which 
they  wore  as  a  garment,  thrown  about 
their  shoulders.      And  almost  all  of 
them  had  a  white  wrapper  about  their 
heads,  not  much  unlike  a  turban,  or, 
in  some  instances,  like  a  high  conical 
cap.      We  could  also  perceive  that 
they  were  of  a  tawny  colour,  and  in 
general  of  a  middling  stature,   but 
robust,  and  inclining  to  corpulence. 

At  this  time,  a  small  canoe  was 
launched  in  a  great  hurry  from  the 
farther  end  of  the  beach,  and  a  man 
getting  into  it,  put  oft',  as  with  a  view 
to  reach  the  ship.  On  perceiving 
this,  I  brought  to,  that  we  might  re- 
ceive the  visit ;  but  the  man's  resolu- 
tion failing,  he  soon  returned  toward 
the  beach,  where,  after  some  time,  an- 
other man  joined  him  in  the  canoe  ; 
and  then  they  both  paddled  towards 
us.  They  stopped  short,  however,  as 
if  afraid  to  approach,  until  Omai,  who 
addressed  them  in  the  Otaheite  lan- 
guage, in  some  measure  quieted  their 
apprehensions.  They  then  came  near 
enough  to  take  some  beads  and  nails, 
which  were  tied  to  a  piece  of  wood 
and  thrown  into  the  canoe.  They 


MARCH  1777.]    AN  ISLAND  CALLED  MANGEEA  DISCOVERED.      97 


seemed  afraid  to  touch  these  things, 
and  put  the  piece  of  wood  aside  with- 
out untying  them.  This,  however, 
might  arise  from  superstition ;  for 
Oruai  told  us,  that  when  they  saw  us 
offering  them  presents,  they  asked 
something  for  their  "  Eatooa,"  or  god, 
He  also,  perhaps  improperly,  put  the 
question  to  them,  "Whether  they 
ever  ate  human  flesh?"  which  they 
answered  in  the  negative,  with  a  mix- 
ture of  indignation  and  abhorrence. 
One  of  them,  whose  name  was  Mou- 
rooa,  being  asked  how  he  came  by  a 
scar  on  his  forehead,  told  us  that  it 
was  the  consequence  of  a  wound  he 
had  got  in  fighting  with  the  people  of 
an  island  which  lies  to  the  north-east- 
ward, who  sometimes  came  to  invade 
them.  They  afterward  took  hold  of 
a  rope.  Still,  however,  they  would 
not  venture  on  board ;  but  told  Ornai, 
who  understood  them  pretty  well, 
that  their  countrymen  on  shore  had 
given  them  this  caution,  at  the  same 
time  directing  them  to  inquire  from 
whence  our  ship  came,  and  to  learn 
the  name  of  the  captain.  On  our 
part,  we  inquired  the  name  of  the 
island,  which  they  called  "Mangya" 
or  "Mangeea;"  and  sometimes  added 
to  it  "Nooe,  nai,  naiwa."  The  name 
of  their  chief,  they  said,  was  Orooaeeka. 
Mourooa  was  lusty  and  well  made, 
but  not  very  tall.  His  features  were 
agreeable,  and  his  disposition  seeming- 
ly no  less  so  ;  for  he  made  several  droll 
gesticulations,  which  indicated  both 
good-nature  and  a  share  of  humour. 
He  also  made  others  which  seemed  of 
a  serious  kind,  and  repeated  some 
words  with  a  devout  air,  before  he 
ventured  to  lay  hold  of  the  rope  at 
the  ship's  stern  ;  which  was  probably 
to  recommend  himself  to  the  protec- 
tion of  some  divinity.  His  colour 
was  nearly  of  the  same  cast  with  that 
common  to  the  most  southern  Euro- 

Cns.  The  other  man  was  not  so 
id  some.  Both  of  them  had  strong, 
straight  hair,  of  a  jet  colour,  tied  to- 
gether on  the  crown  of  the  head  with 
a  bit  oi  cloth.  They  wore  such  girdles 
as  we  had  perceived  about  those  on 
shore,  and  we  found  they  were  a  sub- 
stance made  from  the  Moms  papyri- 


fera,  in  the  same  manner  as  at  the 
other  islands  of  this  ocean.  It  was 
glazed  like  the  sort  used  by  the  natives 
of  the  Friendly  Islands ;  but  the  cloth 
on  their  heads  was  white,  like  that 
which  is  found  at  Otaheite.  They 
had  on  a  kind  of  sandals,  made  of  a 
grassy  substance  interwoven,  which 
we  also  observed  were  worn  by  those 
who  stood  upon  the  beach,  and,  as  we 
supposed,  intended  to  defend  their 
feet  against  the  rough  coral  rock. 
Their  beards  were  long  ;  and  the  in- 
side of  their  arms,  from  the  shoulder 
to  the  elbow,  and  some  other  parts, 
were  punctured  or  tattooed,  after  the 
manner  of  the  inhabitants  of  almost 
all  the  other  islands  in  the  South  Sea. 
The  lobe  of  their  ears  was  pierced,  or 
rather  slit,  and  to  such  a  length,  that 
one  of  them  stuck  there  a  knife  and 
some  beads  which  he  had  received 
from  us ;  and  the  same  person  had 
two  polished  pearl  shells,  and  a  bunch 
of  human  hair,  loosely  twisted,  hang- 
ing about  his  neck,  which  was  the 
only  ornament  we  observed.  The 
canoe  they  came  in  (which  was  the 
only  one  we  saw)  was  not  above  ten 
feet  long,  and  very  narrow  ;  but  both 
strong  and  neatly  made.  The  fore- 
part had  a  flat  board  fastened  over  it, 
and  projecting  out,  to  prevent  tha 
sea  getting  in  on  plunging,  like  the 
small  "evaas"  at  Otaheite;  but  it 
had  an  upright  stern,  about  five  feet 
high,  like  some  in  New  Zealand ;  and 
the  upper  end  of  this  stern-post  was 
forked.  The  lower  part  of  the  canoe 
was  of  white  wood,  but  the  upper  was 
black ;  and  their  paddles  made  of  wood 
of  the  same  colour,  not  above  three  feet 
long,  broad  at  one  end,  and  blunted. 
They  paddled  either  end  of  the  canoe 
forward  indifferently,  and  only  turned 
about  their  faces  to  paddle  the  con- 
trary way. 

We  now  stood  off  and  on,  and  as 
soon  as  the  ships  were  in  a  proper 
station,  about  10  o'clock  I  ordered 
two  boats,  one  of  them  from  the  Dis- 
covery to  sound  the  coast,  and  to  en- 
deavour to  find  a  landing-place.  With 
this  view,  I  went  in  one  of  them  my- 
self, taking  with  me  such  articles  to 
give  the  natives  as  I  thought  might. 
G 


98 

serve  to  gain  their  goodwill.  I  had 
no  sooner  put  off  from  the  ship  than 
the  canoe,  with  the  two  men  which 
had  left  us  not  long  before,  paddled 
towards  my  boat ;  and,  having  come 
alongside,  Mourooa  stepped  into  her, 
without  being  asked,  and  without  a 
moment's  hesitation.  Omai,  who  was 
with  me,  was  ordered  to  inquire  of 
him  where  we  could  land,  and  he 
directed  us  to  two  different  places. 
But  I  saw  with  regret  that  the  at- 
tempt could  not  be  made  at  either 
place,  unless  at  the  risk  of  having 
our  boats  filled  with  water,  or  even 
staved  to  pieces.  Nor  were  we  more 
fortunate  in  our  search  for  anchorage, 
for  we  could  find  no  bottom  till  within 
a  cable's  length  of  the  breakers.  There 
we  met  with  from  forty  to  twenty 
fathoms  depth,  over  sharp  coral  rocks, 
so  that  anchoring  would  have  been 
attended  with  much  more  danger  than 
landing.  Thus  were  we  obliged  to 
leave,  un visited,  this  fine  island,  which 
seemed  capable  of  supplying  all  our 
wants. 

The  natives  of  Mangeea  seem  to 
resemble  those  of  Otaheite  and  the 
Marquesas  in  the  beauty  of  their  per- 
sons more  than  any  other  nation  I 
have  seen  in  these  seas ;  having  a 
smooth  skin,  and  not  being  muscular. 
Their  general  disposition  also  corre- 
sponds, as  far  as  we  had  opportunities 
of  judging,  with  that  which  distin- 
guishes the  first-mentioned  people. 
For  they  are  not  only  cheerful,  but, 
as  Mourooa  showed  us,  are  acquainted 
with  all  the  lascivious  gesticulations 
which  the  Otaheiteans  practise  in  their 
dances.  It  may  also  be  supposed  that 
their  method  of  living  is  similar ;  for, 
though  the  nature  of  the  country  pre- 
vented our  seeing  many  of  their  habi- 
tations, we  observed  one  house  near 
the  beach,  which  much  resembled, 
in  its  mode  of  construction,  those  of 
Otaheite.  It  was  pleasantly  situated 
in  a  grove  of  trees,  and  appeared  to 
be  about  thirty  feet  long,  and  seven 
or  eight  high,  with  an  open  end, 
which  represented  an  ellipse  divided 
transversely.  Before  it  was  spread 
something  white  on  a  few  bushes, 
eh  we  conjectured  to  be  a  fisliing- 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.         [VoY.  III.  B.  II.  CH.  II. 


net,  and,  to  appearance,  of  a  very 
delicate  texture. 

They  salute  strangers  much  after 
the  Banner  of  the  New  Zealanders, 
by  joining  noses  ;  adding,  however, 
the  additional  ceremony  of  taking  the 
hand  of  the  person  to  whom  they  are 
paying  civilities,  and  rubbing  it  with 
a  degree  of  force  upon  their  nose  and 
mouth. 


CHAPTER  II. 

AFTER  leaving  Mangeea,  on  the  after- 
noon  of  the  30th,  we  continued  our 
course  northward  all  that  night,  and 
till  noon  on  the  31st,  when  we  again 
saw  land,  in  the  direction  of  NE.  by 
N.,  distant  eight  or  ten  leagues. 
Next  morning  at  8  o'clock,  we  had 
got  abreast  of  its  north  end,  within 
four  leagues  of  it,  but  to  leeward,  and 
could  now  pronounce  it  to  be  an 
island,  nearly  of  the  same  appearance 
and  extent  with  that  we  had  so  lately 
left.  At  the  same  time,  another 
island,  but  much  smaller,  was  seen 
right  ahead.  We  could  have  soon 
reached  this ;  but  the  largest  one  had 
the  preference,  as  most  likely  to  fur- 
nish a  supply  of  food  for  the  cattle, 
of  which  we  began  to  be  in  great 
want.  With  this  view  I  determined 
to  work  up  to  it ;  but  as  there  was 
but  little  wind,  and  that  little  was 
unfavourable,  we  were  still  two 
leagues  to  leeward  at  8  o'clock  the 
following  morning.  Soon  after,  I 
sent  two  armed  boats  from  the  Resol- 
ution, and  one  from  the  Discovery, 
under  the  command  of  Lieutenant 
Gore,  to  look  for  anchoring-ground 
and  a  landing-place.  In  the  mean- 
time, we  plied  up  under  the  island 
with  the  ships. 

Just  as  the  boats  were  putting  off, 
we  observed  several  single  canoes 
coming  from  the  shore.  They  went 
first  to  the  Discovery,  she  being  the 
nearest  ship.  It  was  not  long  after 
%\;hen  three  of  these  canoes  camo 
alongside  of  the  Resolution,  each  con- 
ducted by  one  man.  They  are  long 
and  narrow,  and  supported  by  out- 


APRIL  1777.] 
liggers.  The  stern  is  elevated  about 
three  or  four  feet,  something  like  a 
ship's  stern-post.  The  head  is  flat 
above,  but  prow-like  below,  and  turns 
down  at  the  extremity,  like  the  end 
of  a  violin.  Some  knives,  beads,  and 
other  trifles  were  conveyed  to  our 
visitors,  and  they  gave  us  a  few  cocoa- 
nuts,  upon  our  asking  for  them.  But 
they  did  not  part  with  them  by  way 
of  exchange  for  what  they  had  re- 
ceived from  us.  For  they  seemed  to 
have  no  idea  of  bartering ;  nor  did 
they  appear  to  estimate  any  of  our 
presents  at  a  high  rate.  With  a  little 
persuasion,  one  of  them  made  his 
canoe  fast  to  the  ship,  and  came  on 
board,  and  the  other  two,  encour- 
aged by  his  example,  soon  followed 
him.  Their  whole  behaviour  marked 
that  they  were  quite  at  their,  ease,  and 
felt  no  sort  of  apprehension  of  our  de- 
taining or  using  them  ill. 

After  their  departure,  another  canoe 
arrived,  conducted  by  a  man  who 
brought  a  bunch  of  plantains  as  a 
present  to  me  ;  asking  for  me  by 
name,  having  learned  it  from  Omai, 
who  was  sent  before  us  in  the  boat 
with  Mr  Gore.  In  return  for  this 
civility,  I  gave  him  an  axe,  and  a 
piece  of  red  cloth,  and  he  paddled 
back  to  the  shore  well  satisfied.  I 
ai'terward  understood  from  Omai, 
that  this  present  had  been  sent  from 
the  king,  or  principal  chief,  of  the 
island.  Not  long  after,  a  double 
canoe,  in  which  were  twelve  men, 
came  toward  us.  As  they  drew  near 
the  ship,  they  recited  some  words  in 
concert,  by  way  of  chorus,  one  of 
their  number  first  standing  up,  and 
giving  the  word  before  each  repeti- 
tion. "When  they  had  finished  their 
solemn  chant,  they  came  alongside, 
and  asked  for  the  chief.  As  soon  as 
I  showed  myself,  a  pig  and  a  few 
cocoa-nuts  were  conveyed  up  into  the 
ship  ;  and  the  principal  person  in 
the  canoe  made  me  an  additional  pre- 
sent of  a  piece  of  matting,  as  soon  as 
he  and  his  companions  got  on  board. 

Our  visitors  were  conducted  into 
the  cabin,  and  to  other  parts  of  the 
rhip.  Some  objects  seemed  to  strike 
them  Trith  a  degree  of  snrprise  ;  but 


NATIVES  OF  WATEEOO. 


nothing  fixed  their  attention  for  a 
moment.  They  were  afraid  to  come 
near  the  cows  and  horses  ;  nor  did 
they  form  the  least  conception  of 
their  nature.  But  the  sheep  and 
goats  did  not  surpass  the  limits  of 
their  ideas  ;  for  they  gave  us  to 
understand  that  they  knew  them  to 
be  birds.  It  will  appear  rather  in- 
credible that  human  ignorance  could 
ever  make  so  strange  a  mistake ; 
there  not  being  the  most  distant 
similitude  between  a  sheep  or  goat 
and  any  winged  animal.  But  these 
people  seemed  to  know  nothing  of 
the  existence  of  any  other  land- 
animals  besides  hogs,  dogs,  and  birds. 
Our  sheep  and  goats,  they  could  see, 
were  very  different  creatures  from  the 
two  first,  and  therefore  they  inferred 
that  they  must  belong  to  the  latter 
class,  in  which  they  knew  there  is  a 
considerable  variety  of  species.  I 
made  a  present  to  my  new  friend  of 
what  I  thought  might  be  most  ac- 
ceptable to  him ;  but,  on  his  going 
away,  he  seemed  rather  disappointed 
than  pleased.  I  afterward  under- 
stood that  he  was  very  desirous  of 
obtaining  a  dog,  of  which  animal 
this  island  could  not  boast,  though 
its  inhabitants  knew  that  the  race 
existed  in  other  islands  of  their  ocean. 
Captain  Clerke  had  received  the  like 
present,  with  the  same  view,  from 
another  man,  who  met  with  from 
him  the  like  disappointment. 

The  people  in  these  canoes  were  in 
general  of  a  middling  size,  and  not 
unlike  those  of  Mangeea ;  though 
several  were  of  a  blacker  cast  than 
any  we  saw  there.  Their  hair  was 
tied  on  the  crown  of  the  head,  or 
flowing  loose  upon  the  shoulders ; 
and  though  in  some  it  was  of  a 
frizzling  disposition,  yet,  for  the 
most  part,  that,  as  well  as  the 
straight  sort,  was  long.  Their  fea- 
tures were  various,  and  some  of  the 
young  men  rather  handsome.  Like 
those  of  Mangeea,  they  had  girdles 
of  glazed  cloth,  or  fine  matting,  the 
ends  of  which,  being  brought  betwixt 
their  thighs,  covered  the  adjoining 
parts.  Ornaments  composed  of  i 
sort  of  broad  grass,  stained  with  rod, 


too 

and  strung  with  berries  of  the  night- 
shade, were  worn  about  their  necks. 
Their  ears  were  bored,  but  not  slit ; 
and  they  were  punctured  upon  the 
legs,  from  the  knee  to  the  heel,  which 
made  them  appear  as  if  they  wore  a 
kind  of  boots.  They  also  resembled 
the  inhabitants  of  Mangeea  in  the 
length  of  their  beards,  and  like  them 
wore  a  sort  of  sandals  upon  their  feet. 
Their  behaviour  was  frank  and  cheer- 
ful, with  a  great  deal  of  good-nature. 

At  3  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  Mr 
Gore  returned  with  the  boat,  and  in- 
formed me  that  he  had  examined  all 
the  west  side  of  the  island,  without 
finding  a  place  where  a  boat  could 
land  or  the  ships  could  anchor,  the 
shore  being  everywhere  bounded  by  a 
steep  coral  rock,  against  which  the 
sea  broke  in  a  dreadful  surf.  But  as 
the  natives  seemed  very  friendly,  and 
to  express  a  degree  of  disappointment 
when  they  saw  that  our  people  failed 
in  their  attempts  to  land,  Mr  Gore  was 
of  opinion  that,  by  means  of  Omai, 
who  could  best  explain  our  request, 
they  might  be  prevailed  upon  to 
bring  off  to  the  boats,  beyond  the 
Burf,  such  articles  as  we  most  wanted ; 
in  particular,  the  stems  of  plantain 
trees,  which  make  good  food  for  the 
cattle.  Having  little  or  no  wind,  the 
delay  of  a  day  or  two  was  not  of  any 
moment ;  and  therefore  I  determined 
to  try  the  experiment,  and  got  every- 
thing ready  against  the  next  morning. 

Soon  after  daybreak,  we  observed 
some  canoes  coming  off  to  the  ships, 
and  one  of  them  directed  its  course 
to  the  Eesolution.  In  it  was  a  hog, 
with  some  plantains  and  cocoa-nuts, 
for  which  the  people  who  brought 
them  demanded  a  dog  from  us,  and 
refused  every  other  thing  that  we 
offered  in  exchange.  One  of  our 
gentlemen  on  board  happened  to  have 
a  dog  and  a  bitch,  which  were  great 
nuisances  in  the  ship,  and  might 
have  been  disposed  of  on  this  occasion 
for  a  purpose  of  real  utility,  by  pro- 
pagating a  race  of  so  useful  an  animal 
in  this  island.  But  their  owner  had 
no  such  views  in  making  them  the 
companions  of  his  voyage.  How- 
ever, to  gratify  these  people,  Omui  j 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.        [VoY.III.B.lI.CH.II. 


parted  with  a  favourite  dog  he  had 
brought  from  England  ;  and  with 
this  acquisition  they  departed  highly 
satisfied.  About  10  o'clock,  I  des- 
patched Mr  Gore  with  three  boats, 
two  from  the  Eesolution  and  one 
from  the  Discovery,  to  try  the  ex- 
periment he  had  proposed.  And,  as 
I  could  confide  in  his  diligence  and 
ability,  I  left  it  entirely  to  him- 
self to  act  as  from  circumstances  he 
should  judge  to  be  most  proper.  Two 
of  the  natives,  who  had  been  on 
board,  accompanied  him,  and  Omai 
went  with  him  in  his  boat  as  an  in- 
terpreter. The  ships  being  a  full 
league  from  the  island  when  the 
boats  put  off,  and  having  but  little 
wind,  it  was  noon  before  we  could 
work  up  to  it.  We  then  saw  our 
three  boats  riding  at  their  grapplings, 
just  without  the  surf,  and  a  prodig- 
ious number  of  the  natives  on  the 
shore  abreast  of  them.  By  this  we 
concluded,  that  Mr  Gore,  and  others 
of  our  people,  had  landed  ;  and  our 
impatience  to  know  the  event  may  be 
easily  conceived.  In  order  to  observe 
their  motions,  and  to  be  ready  to 
give  them  such  assistance  as  they 
might  want  and  our  respective  situa- 
tions would  admit  of,  I  kept  as  near 
the  shore  as  was  prudent.  I  was 
sensible,  however,  that  the  reef  was 
as  effectual  a  barrier  between  us  and 
our  friends  who  had  landed,  and  put 
them  as  much  beyond  the  reach  of 
our  protection,  as  if  half  the  circum- 
ference of  the  globe  had  intervened  ; 
but  the  islanders,  it  was  probable, 
did  not  know  this  so  well  as  we  did. 
Some  of  them,  now  and  then,  came 
off  to  the  ships  in  their  canoes,  with 
a  few  cocoa-nuts,  which  they  ex- 
changed for  whatever  was  offered  to 
them,  without  seeming  to  give  the 
preference  to  any  particular  article. 

These  occasional  visits  served  to 
lessen  my  solicitude  about  our  people 
who  had  landed.  Though  we  could 
get  no  information  from  our  visitors, 
yet  their  venturing  on  board  seemed 
to  imply,  at  least,  that  their  country- 
men on  shore  had  not  made  an  impro- 
per use  of  the  confidence  put  in  them. 
At  length,  a  little  "before  sunset^  wd 


ATEIL1777.]        INTERVIEWS  WITH  THE  NATIVES. 


101 


had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  the 
boats  put  off.  When  they  got  on 
board,  I  found  that  Mr  Gore  himself, 
Omai,  Mr  Anderson,  and  Mr  Burney, 
were  the  only  persons  who  had  landed. 
The  transactions  of  the  day  were  now 
fully  reported  to  me  by  Mr  Gore ;  but 
Mr  Anderson's  account  of  them  being 
very  particular,  and  including  some 
remarks  on  the  island  and  its  inhabit- 
ants, 1  shall  give  it  a  place  here, 
nearly  in  his  own  words. 

"  We  rowed  toward  a  small  sandy 
beach,  upon  which,  and  upon  the  ad- 
jacent rocks,  a  great  number  of  the 
natives  had  assembled,  and  came  to 
an  anchor  within  100  yards  of  the 
reef,  which  extends  about  as  far, 
or  a  little  farther,  from  the  shore. 
Several  of  the  natives  swam  off,  bring- 
ing cocoa-nuts  ;  and  Omai,  with  their 
countrymen,  whom  we  had  with  us  in 
the  boats,  made  them,  sensible  of  our 
wish  to  land.  But  their  attention  was 
taken  up  for  a  little  time  by  the  dog, 
which  had  been  carried  from  the  ship, 
and  was  just  brought  on  shore,  round 
whom  they  flocked  with  great  eager- 
ness. Soon  after,  two  canoes  came 
off;  and,  to  create  a  greater  confid- 
ence in  the  islanders,  we  determined 
to  go  unarmed  and  run  the  hazard  of 
being  treated  well  or  ill. 

"Mr  Burney,  the  first  lieutenant 
of  the  Discovery,  and  I,  went  in  one 
canoe  a  little  time  before  the  other ; 
and  our  conductors,  watching  atten- 
tively the  motions  of  the  surf,  landed 
us  safely  upon  the  reef.  An  islander 
took  hold  of  each  of  us,  obviously 
with  an  intention  to  support  us  in 
walking  over  the  rugged  rocks  to  the 
beach,  where  several  of  the  others 
met  us,  holding  the  green  boughs  of 
a  [species  of  mimosa  in  their  hands, 
and  saluted  us  by  applying  their  noses 
to  ours. 

"  We  were  conducted  from  the  beach 
by  our  guides  amidst  a  great  crowd  of 
people,  who  nocked  with  very  eager 
curiosity  to  look  at  us,  and  would  have 
prevented  our  proceeding  had  not 
some  men,  who  seemed  to  have  au- 
thority, dealt  blows  with  little  dis- 
tinction amongst  them  to  keep  them 
off.  We  were  then  led  UD  an  avenue 


of  cocoa-palms,  and  soon  came  to  a 
number  of  men  arranged  in  two  rows, 
armed  with  clubs,  which  they  held 
on  their  shoulders  much  in  the  man- 
ner we  rest  a  musket.  After  walking 
a  little  way  amongst  these,  we  found 
a  person  who  seemed  a  chief  sitting 
on  the  ground  cross-legged,  cooling 
himself  with  a  sort  of  triangular  fan 
made  from  a  leaf  of  the  cocoa-palm, 
with  a  polished  handle  of  black  wood 
fixed  to  one  corner.  In  his  ears  were 
large  bunches  of  beautiful  red  feathers 
which  pointed  forward.  But  he  had 
no  other  mark  or  ornament  to  distin- 
guish him  from  the  rest  of  the  people, 
though  they  all  obeyed  him  with  the 
greatest  alacrity.  He  either  natur- 
ally had,  or  at  this  time  put  on,  a 
serious  but  not  severe  countenance  ; 
and  we  were  desired  to  salute  him  as 
he  sat  by  some  people  who  seemed  of 
consequence. 

"We  proceeded  still  amongst  the 
men  armed  with  clubs,  and  came  to  a 
second  chief,  who  sat  fanning  himself, 
and  ornamented  as  the  first.  He  was 
remarkable  for  his  size  and  uncommon 
corpulence,  though,  to  appearance, 
not  above  thirty  years  of  age.  In  the 
same  manner  we  were  conducted  to  a 
third  chief,  who  seemed  older  than 
the  two  former  ;  and  though  not  so 
fat  as  the  second,  was  of  a  large  size. 
He  also  was  sitting,  and  adorned  with 
red  feathers  ;  and  after  saluting  him 
as  we  had  done  the  others,  he  desired 
us  both  to  sit  down,  which  we  were 
very  willing  to  do,  being  pretty  well 
fatigued  with  walking  up,  and  with 
the  excessive  heat  we  felt  amongst  the 
vast  crowd  that  surrounded  us. 

"  In  a  few  minutes  the  people  were 
ordered  to  separate  ;  and  we  saw,  at 
the  distance  of  thirty  yards,  about 
twenty  young  women  ornamented  as 
the  chiefs,  with  red  feathers,  engaged 
in  a  dance,  which  they  performed  to 
a  slow  and  serious  air  sung  by  them 
all.  We  got  up  and  went  forward  to 
see  them,  and  though  we  must  have 
been  strange  objects  to  them,  they 
continued  their  dance  without  pay- 
ing  the  least  attention  to  us.  They 
seemed  to  be  directed  by  a  man  who 
served  as  a  prompter,  and  mentioned 


102  COOK'S  VOYAGES. 

each  motion  they  were  to  make.  But 
they  never  changed  the  spot,  as  we 
do  in  dancing  ;  and  though  their  feet 
were  not  at  rest,  this  exercise  con- 
sisted more  in  moving  the  fingers 


very  nimbly,  at  the  same  time  hold- 
ing their  hands  in  a  prone  position 
near  the  face,  and  now  and  then  also 
clapping  them  together.  Their  mo- 
tions and  song  were  performed  in  such 
exact  concert  that  it  should  seem  they 
had  been  taught  with  great  care  ;  and 
probably  they  were  selected  for  this 
ceremony,  as  few  of  those  whom  we 
saw  in  the  crowd  equalled  them  in 
beauty.  In  general,  they  were  rather 
stout  than  slender,  with  black  hair 
flowing  in  ringlets  down  the  neck, 
and  of  an  olive  complexion.  Their 
features  were  rather  fuller  than  what 
we  allow  to  perfect  beauties,  and  much 
alike ;  but  their  eyes  were  of  a  deep 
black,  and  each  countenance  expressed 
a  degree  of  complacency  and  modesty 
peculiar  to  the  sex  in  every  part  of 
the  world,  but  perhaps  more  conspi- 
cuous here  where  Nature  presented 
us  with  her  productions  in  the  fullest 
perfection,  unbiassed  in  sentiment  by 
custom,  or  unrestrained  in  manner  by 
art.  Their  shape  and  limbs  were  ele- 
gantly formed ;  for,  as  their  dress  con- 
sisted only  of  a  piece  of  glazed  cloth 
fastened  about  the  waist,  and  scarcely 
reaching  so  low  as  the  knees,  in 
many  we  had  an  opportunity  of  ob- 
serving every  part.  This  dance  was 
not  finished  when  we  heard  a  noise  as 
if  some  horses  had  been  galloping  to- 
ward us,  and,  on  looking  aside,  we 
saw  the  people  armed  with  clubs,  who 
had  been  desired,  as  we  supposed,  to 
entertain  us  with  the  sight  of  their 
manner  of  fighting.  This  they  now 
did,  one  party  pursuing  another  who 
fled. 

"As  we  supposed  the  ceremony  of 
being  introduced  to  the  chiefs  was  at 
an  end,  we  began  to  look  about  for  Mr 
Gore  and  Omai ;  and,  though  the 
crowd  would  hardly  suffer  us  to  move, 
we  at  length  found  them  coming  up, 
as  much  incommoded  by  the  number 
of  people  as  we  had  been,  and  intro- 
duced in  the  same  manner  to  the 
three  chiefs,  whose  n  ames  were  Otteroo, 


[VOY.HI.B.II.CH.II. 
Taroa,  and  Fatouweera.  Each  of 
these  expected  a  present,  and  Mr 
Gore  gave  them  such  things  as  he 
had  brought  with  him  from  the  ship 
for  that  purpose.  After  this,  making 


use  of  Omai  as  his  interpreter,  he  in- 
formed the  chiefs  with  what  intention 
we  had  come  on  shore  ;  but  was  given 
to  understand  that  he  must  wait  till 
the  next  day,  and  then  he  should 
have  what  was  wanted. 

"They  now  seemed  to  take  some 
pains  to  separate  us  from  each  other, 
and  every  one  of  us  had  his  circle  to 
surround  and  gaze  at  him.  For  my 
own  part,  I  was  at  one  time  above  an 
hour  apart  from  my  friends ;  and  when 
I  told  the  chief  with  whom  I  sat  that 
I  wanted  to  speak  to  Omai,  he  per- 
emptorily refused  my  request.  At 
the  same  time,  I  found  the  people 
began  to  steal  several  trifling  tilings 
which  I  had  in  my  pocket ;  and  when 
I  took  the  liberty  of  complaining  to 
the  chief  of  this  treatment,  he  justified 
it.  From  these  circumstances,  I  now 
entertained  apprehensions  that  they 
might  have  formed  the  design  of  de- 
taining us  amongst  them.  They  did 
not,  indeed,  seem  to  be  of  a  disposi- 
tion so  savage  as  to  make  us  anxious 
for  the  safety  of  our  persons  ;  but  it 
was  nevertheless  vexing  to  think  we 
had  hazarded  being  detained  by  their 
curiosity.  In  this  situation,  1  asked 
for  something  to  eat,  and  they  readily 
brought  to  me  some  cocoa-nuts,  bread- 
fruit, and  a  sort  of  sour  pudding, 
which  was  presented  by  a  woman. 
And  on  my  complaining  much  of  the 
heat,  occasioned  by  the  crowd,  the 
chief  himself  condescended  to  fen  me, 
and  gave  me  a  small  piece  of  cloth 
which  he  had  round  his  waist. 

"  Mr  Burney  happening  to  come  to 
the  place  where  I  was,  I  mentioned 
my  suspicions  to  him  ;  and,  to  put  it 
to  the  test  whether  they  were  well 
founded,  we  attempted  to  get  to  the 
beach.  But  we  were  stopped  when 
about  half  way  by  some  men,  who 
told  us  that  we  must  go  back  to  the 
place  which  we  had  left.  On  coming 
\\l>,  we  found  Omai  entertaining  the 
same  apprehensions.  But  he  hau,  as 
he  fancied,  an  additional  reason  for 


APRIL  1777.]  DETENTION  BY 
being  afraid,  for  he  had  observed  that 
they  had  dug  a  hole  in  the  ground  for 
an  oven,  which  they  were  now  heat- 
ing ;  and  he  could  assign  no  other 
reason  for  this  than  that  they  meant 
to  roast  and  eat  us,  as  is  practised  by 
the  inhabitants  of  New  Zealand.  Nay, 
he  went  so  far  as  to  ask  them  the 
question,  at  which  they  were  greatly 
surprised,  asking  in  return  whether 
that  was  a  custom  with  us.  Mr  Bur- 
neyand  I  were  rather  angry  that  they 
should  be  thus  suspected  by  him, 
there  having  as  yet  been  no  appear- 
ances in  their  conduct  toward  us  of 
their  being  capable  of  such  brutality. 

"  In  this  manner  we  were  detained 
the  greatest  part  of  the  day,  being 
sometimes  together,  and  sometimes 
separated,  but  always  in  a  crowd, 
who,  not  satisfied  with  gazing  at  us, 
frequently  desired  us  to  uncover  parts 
of  our  skin  ;  the  sight  of  which  com- 
monly produced  a  general  murmur  of 
admiration.  At  the  same  time,  they 
did  not  omit  these  opportunities  of 
rifling  our  pockets  ;  and,  at  last,  one 
of  them  snatched  a  small  bayonet 
from  Mr  Gore,  which  hung  in  its 
sheath  by  his  side.  This  was  repre- 
sented to  the  chief,  who  pretended  to 
.  send  some  person  in  search  of  it. 
But,  in  all  probability,  he  counten- 
anced the  theft ;  for,  soon  after,  Omai 
had  a  dagger  stolen  from  his  side  in 
the  same  manner,  though  he  did  not 
miss  it  immediately. 

' '  Whether  they  observed  any  signs 
of  uneasiness  in  us,  or  that  they  vol- 
untarily repeated  their  emblems  of 
friendship  when  we  expressed  a  de- 
sire to  go,  I  cannot  tell ;  but,  at  this 
time,  they  brought  some  green  boughs, 
and,  sticking  their  ends  in  the  ground, 
desired  we  might  hold  them  as  we 
sat.  Upon  our  urging  again  the  busi- 
ness we  came  upon,  they  gave  us  to 
understand  that  we  must  stay  and 
eat  with  them  ;  and  a  pig  which  we 
saw,  soon  after,  lying  near  the  oven, 
which  they  had  prepared  and  heated, 
removed  Omai's  apprehensions  of  be- 
in^  put  into  it  himself,  and  made  us 
think  it  might  be  intended  for  our 
repast.  The  chief  also  promised  to 
send  some  people  to  procure  food  for 


THE  NATIVES.  103 

the  cattle  ;  but  it  was  not  till  pretty 
late  in  the  afternoon  that  we  saw 
them  return  with  a  few  plantail, 
trees,  which  they  carried  to  our 
boats. 

"In  the  meantime,  Mr  Burney  and 
I  attempted  again  to  go  to  the  beach]; 
but,  when  we  arrived,  found  ourselves 
watched  by  people  who,  to  appear- 
ance, had  been  placed  there  for  this 
purpose.  For  when  I  tried  to  wade 
in  upon  the  reef,  one  of  them  took 
hold  of  my  clothes  and  dragged  me 
back.  I  picked  up  some  small  pieces 
of  coral,  which  they  required  me  to 
throw  down  again  ;  and,  on  my  re- 
fusal, they  made  no  scruple  to  take 
them  forcibly  from  me.  I  had 
gathered  some  small  plants,  but  these 
also  I  could  not  be  permitted  to  re- 
tain. And  they  took  a  fan  from  Mr 
Burney,  which  he  had  received  as  a 
present  on  coming  ashore.  Omai 
said  we  had  done  wrong  in  taking  up 
anything,  for  it  was  not  the  custom 
here  to  permit  freedoms  of  that  kind 
to  strangers,  till  they  had  in  some 
measure  naturalised  them  to  the 
country,  by  entertaining  them  with 
festivity  for  two  or  three  days. 

"  Finding  that  the  only  method  of 
procuring  better  treatment  was  to 
yield  implicit  obedience  to  their  will, 
we  went  up  again  to  the  place  we  had 
left,  and  they  now  promised  that  we 
should  have  a  canoe  to  carry  us  off  to 
our  boats,  after  we  had  eaten  of  a  re- 
past which  had  been  prepared  for  us. 
Accordingly,  the  second  chief,  to 
whom  we  had  been  introduced  in  the 
morning,  having  seated  himself  upon 
a  low  broad  stool  of  blackish,  hard 
wood,  tolerably  polished,  and  direct- 
ing the  multitude  to  make  a  pretty 
large  ring,  made  us  sit  down  by  him. 
A  considerable  number  of  cocoa-nuts 
were  now  brought,  and,  shortly  after, 
a  long  green  basket,  with  a  sufficient 
quantity  of  baked  plantains  to  have 
served  a  dozen  persons.  A  piece  of 
the  young  hog  that  had  been  dressed 
was  then  set  before  each  of  us,  of 
which  we  were  desired  to  eat.  Our 
appetites,  however,  had  failed  from 
the  fatigue  of  the  day  j  and  though 
we  did  eat  a  little  to  please  them, 


104 

it  was  without  satisfaction  to  our- 
selves. 

"  It  being  now  near  sunset,  we  told 
them  it  was  time  to  go  on  board. 
This  they  allowed,  and  sent  down  to 
the  beach  the  remainder  of  the 
victuals  that  had  been  dressed,  to  be 
carried  with  us  to  the  ships.  But, 
before  we  set  out,  Omai  was  treated 
with  a  drink  he  had  been  used  to  in 
his  own  country,  which,  we  observed, 
was  made  here,  as  at  other  islands  in 
the  South  Sea,  by  chewing  the  root 
of  a  sort  of  pepper.  We  found  a 
canoe  ready  to  put  us  off  to  our  boats, 
which  the  natives  did  with  the  same 
caution  as  when  we  landed.  But 
even  here  their  thievish  disposition 
did  not  leave  them.  For  a  person  of 
some  consequence  among  them,  who 
came  with  us,  took  an  opportunity, 
just  as  they  were  pushing  the  canoe 
into  the  surf,  to  snatch  a  bag  out  of 
her,  which  I  had  with  the  greatest 
difficulty  preserved  all  the  day,  there 
being  in  it  a  small  pocket  pistol 
which  I  was  unwilling  to  part  -with. 
Perceiving  him,  I  called  out,  express- 
ing as  much  displeasure  as  I  could.  On 
which  he  thought  proper  to  return, 
and  swim  with  the  bag  to  the  canoe ; 
but  denied  he  had  stolen  it,  though 
detected  in  the  very  act.  They  put 
us  on  our  boats,  with  the  cocoa-nuts, 
plantains,  and  other  provisions  which 
they  had  brought ;  and  we  rowed  to 
the  ships,  very  well  pleased  that  we 
had  at  last  got  out  of  the  hands  of 
our  troublesome  masters. 

"We  regretted  much  that  our 
restrained  situation  gave  us  so  little 
opportunity  of  making  observations 
on  the  country.  For,  during  the 
whole  day,  we  were  seldom  100  yards 
from  the  place  where  we  were  intro- 
duced to  the  chiefs  on  landing  ;  and, 
consequently,  were  confined  to  the 
surrounding  objects.  The  first  thing 
that  presented  itself  worthy  of  our 
notice  was  the  number  of  people, 
which  must  have  been  at  least  2000  ; 
for  those  who  welcomed  us  on  the  shore 
bore  no  proportion  to  the  multitude 
we  found  amongst  the  trees,  on  pro- 
ceeding a  little  way  up.  We  could 
also  observe  that,  except  a  few,  those 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.         [Yor.  III.  B.  II.  CH.  II. 


we  had  hitherto  seen  on  board  were 
of  the  lower  class.  For  a  great  num- 
ber of  those  we  now  met  with  had  a 
superior  dignity  in  their  air,  and  were 
of  a  much  whiter  cast.  In  general, 
they  had  the  hair  tied  on  the  crown 
of  the  head,  long,  black,  and  of  a 
most  luxuriant  growth.  Many  of  the 
young  men  were  perfect  models  in 
shape,  of  a  complexion  as  delicate  as 
that  of  the  women,  and,  to  appear- 
ance, of  a  disposition  as  amiable. 
Others,  who  were  more  advanced  in 
years,  were  corpulent ;  and  all  had  a 
remarkable  smoothness  of  the  skin. 
Their  general  dress  was  a  piece  of 
cloth,  or  mat,  wrapped  about  the 
waist,  and  covering  the  parts  which 
modesty  conceals.  But  some  had 
pieces  of  m%,ts,  most  curiously  varied 
with  black  and  white,  made  into  a 
sort  of  jacket  without  sleeves  ;  and 
others  wore  conical  caps  of  cocoa-nut 
coir,  neatly  interwoven  with  small 
beads,  made  of  a  shelly  substance. 
Their  ears  were  pierced,  and  in  them 
they  hung  bits  of  the  membraneous 
part  of  some  plant,  or  stuck  there  an 
odoriferous  flower,  which  seemed  to 
be  a  species  of  Gardenia.  Some,  who 
were  of  a  superior  class,  and  also  the 
chiefs,  had  two  little  balls,  with  a 
common  base,  made  from  the  bone  of 
some  animal,  which  was  hung  round 
the  neck,  with  a  great  many  folds  of 
small  cord.  And  after  the  ceremony  of 
introduction  to  the  chiefs  was  over, 
they  then  appeared  without  their  red 
feathers,  which  are  certainly  con- 
sidered here  as  a  particular  mark  of 
distinction,  for  none  but  themselves, 
and  the  young  women  who  danced, 
assumed  them. 

"  Some  of  the  men  were  punctured 
all  over  the  sides  and  iback  in  an 
uncommon  manner  ;  and  some  of  the 
women  had  the  same  ornament  on 
their  legs.  But  this  method  was  con- 
fined to  those  who  seemed  to  be  of  a 
superior  rank  ;  and  the  men,  in  that 
case,  were  also  generally  distinguished 
by  their  size  and  corpulence,  unless 
very  young.  The  women  of  an  ad- 
vanced age  had  their  hair  cropped 
short ;  many  were  cut  in  oblique 
lines  all  over  the  fore -part  of  the 


APRIL  1777.]      A  FURTHER  DISPLAY  OF  CURIOSITY. 


body ;  and  some  of  the  wounds, 
which  formed  rhomboidal  figures,  had 
been  so  lately  inflicted,  that  the  co- 
agulated blood  still  remained  in 
them. 

"  The  wife  of  one  of  the  chiefs  ap- 
peared with  her  child  laid  in  a  piece 
of  red  cloth  which  had  been  pre- 
sented to  her  husband,  and  seemed 
to  carry  it  with  great  tenderness, 
suckling  it  much  after  the  manner  of 
our  women.  Another  chief  intro- 
duced his  daughter,  who  was  young 
and  beautiful,  but  appeared  with  all 
the  timidity  natural  to  the  sex ; 
though  she  gazed  on  us  with  a  kind 
of  anxious  concern  that  seemed  to 
struggle  with  her  fear,  and  to  express 
her  astonishment  at  so  unusual  a 
sight.  Others  advanced  with  more 
firmness,  and,  indeed,  were  less  re- 
served than  we  expected ;  but  be- 
haved with  a  becoming  modesty. 
We  did  not  observe  any-personal  de- 
formities amongst  either  sex,  except 
in  a  few  who  had  scars  of  broad  super- 
ficial ulcers  remaining  on  the  face 
and  other  parts.  In  proportion  to 
the  number  of  people  assembled, 
there  appeared  not  many  old  men  or 
women,  which  may  easily  be  ac- 
counted for  by  supposing  that  such 
as  were  in  an  advanced  period  of  life 
might  neither  have  the  inclination 
nor  the  ability  to  come  from  the  more 
distant  parts  of  the  island.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  children  were  numer- 
ous ;  and  both  these  and  the  men 
climbed  the  trees  to  look  at  us, 
when  we  were  hid  by  the  surround- 
ing crowd. 

"About  a  third  part  of  the  men 
were  armed  with  clubs  and  spears ; 
and,  probably,  these  were  only  the 
persons  who  had  come  from  a  distance, 
as  many  of  them  had  small  baskets, 
mats,  and  other  things,  fastened  to 
the  ends  of  their  weapons.  The  clubs 
were  generally  about  six  feet  long, 
made  of  a  hard  black  wood,  lance- 
shaped  at  the  end,  but  much  broader, 
with  the  edge  nicely  scolloped,  and 
the  whole  neatly  polished.  Others  of 
them  were  narrower  at  the  point, 
much  shorter,  and  plain ;  and  some 
were  even  so  small  as  to  be  used  with 


105 

one  hand.  The  spears  were  made  of 
the  same  wood,  simply  pointed,  and, 
in  general,  above  twelve  feet  long ; 
though  some  were  so  short  that  they 
seemed  intended  to  be  thrown  as 
darts. 

"  The  place  where  we  were  all  the 
day  was  under  the  shade  of  various 
trees  ;  in  which  they  preserved  their 
canoes  from  the  sun.  About  eight 
or  ten  of  them  were  here,  all  double 
ones  ;  that  is,  two  single  ones  fastened 
together  (as  is  usual  throughout  the 
whole  extent  of  the  Pacific  Ocean), 
by  rafters  lashed  across.  They  were 
about  twenty  feet  long,  about  four 
feet  deep,  and  the  sides  rounded,  with 
a  plank  raised  upon  them,  which  was 
fastened  strongly  by  means  of  withes. 
Two  of  these  canoes  were  most  curi- 
ously stained  or  painted  all  over  with 
black,  in  numberless  small  figures,  as 
squares,  triangles,  &c.,  and  excelled 
by  far  anything  of  that  kind  I  had 
ever  seen  at  any  other  island  in  this 
ocean.  Our  friends  here,  indeed, 
seemed  to  have  exerted  more  skill  in 
doing  this,  than  in  puncturing  their 
own  bodies.  The  paddles  were  about 
four  feet  long,  nearly  elliptical,  but 
broader  at  the  upper  end  than  the 
middle.  Near  the  same  place  was  a 
hut  or  shed  about  thirty  feet  long  and 
nine  or  ten  high,  in  which,  perhaps, 
these  boats  are  built;  but,  at  this 
time,  it  was  empty. " 

Though  the  lauding  of  our  gentle- 
men proved  the  means  of  enriching 
my  journal  with  the  foregoing  parti- 
culars, the  principal  object  I  had  in 
view  was,  in  a  great  measure,  unat- 
tained  ;  for  the  day  was  spent  without 
getting  any  one  thing  from  the  island 
worth  mention  ing.  The  natives,  how- 
ever, were  gratified  with  a  sight  they 
never  before  had,  and,  probably,  will 
never  have  again.  And  mere  curi- 
osity seems  to  have  been  their  chief 
motive  for  keeping  the  gentlemen 
under  such  restraint,  and  for  using 
every  art  to  prolong  their  continuance 
amongst  them. 

It  has  been  mentioned,  that  Omai 
was  sent  upon  this  expedition ;  and, 
perhaps,  his  being  Mr  Gore's  inter- 
preter was  not  the  only  service  he 


106 

performed  this  day.  He  was  asked 
by  the  natives  a  great  many  questions 
concerning  us,  our  ships,  our  country, 
and  the  sort  of  arms  we  used ;  and, 
according  to  the  account  he  gave  me, 
his  answers  were  not  a  little  upon  the 
marvellous.  As,  for  instance,  he  told 
them,  that  our  country  had  ships  as 
large  as  their  island,  on  board  which 
were  instruments  of  war  (describing 
our  guns),  of  such  dimensions,  that 
several  people  might  sit  within  them  ; 
and  that  one  of  them  was  suffi- 
cient to  crush  the  whole  island  at 
one  shot.  This  led  them  to  inquire 
of  him  what  sort  of  guns  we  actually 
had  in  our  two  ships.  He  said  that 
though  they  were  but  small  in  com- 
parison with  those  he  had  just  de- 
scribed, yet,  with  such  as  they  were, 
we  could  with  the  greatest  ease,  and 
at  the  distance  the  ships  were  from 
the  shore,  destroy  the  island  and  kill 
every  soul  in  it.  They  persevered  in 
their  inquiries,  to  know  by  what 
means  this  could  be  done ;  and  Omai 
explained  the  matter  as  well  as  he 
could.  He  happened  luckily  to  have 
a  few  cartridges  in  his  pocket.  These 
he  produced  ;  the  balls,  and  the  gun- 
powder which  was  to  set  them  in 
motion,  were  submitted  to  inspection  : 
and,  to  supply  the  defects  of  his  de- 
scription, an  appeal  was  made  to  the 
senses  of  the  spectators.  It  has  been 
mentioned  above,  that  one  of  the 
chiefs  had  ordered  the  multitude  to 
form  themselves  into  a  circle.  This 
furnished  Omai  with  a  convenient 
stage  for  his  exhibition.  In  the 
centre  of  this  amphitheatre,  the  in- 
considerable quantity  of  gunpowder 
collected  from  his  cartridges  was  pro- 
perly disposed  upon  the  ground,  and, 
by  means  of  a  bit  of  burning  wood 
from  the  oven  where  dinner  was  dress- 
ing, set  on  fire.  The  sudden  blast 
and  loud  report,  the  mingled  flame  and 
smoke,  that  instantly  succeeded,  now 
filled  the  whole  assembly  with  aston- 
ishment :  they  no  longer  doubted  the 
tremendous  power  of  our  weapons, 
and  gave  full  credit  to  all  that  Omai 
had  said. 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.        [VoY.  III.  B.  II.  CH.  II. 

our  ships  from  this  specimen  of  their 
mode  of  operation,  it  was  thought 
that  they  would  have  detained  the 
gentlemen  all  night.  For  Omai  as- 
sured  them,  that,  if  he  and  his  com- 
panions did  not  return  on  board  the 
same  day,  they  might  expect  that  I 
would  fire  upon  the  island.  And  as 
we  stood  in  nearer  the  land  in  the 
evening  than  we  had  done  any  time 
before,  of  which  position  of  the  ships 
they  were  observed  to  take  great  notice, 
they  probably  thought  we  were  medi- 
tating this  formidable  attack,  and, 
therefore,  suffered  their  guests  to  de- 
part ;  under  the  expectation,  however, 
of  seeing  them  again  on  shore  next 
morning.  But  I  was  too  sensible  of 
the  risk  they  had  already  run  to  think 
of  a  repetition  of  the  experiment. 

This  day,  it  seems,  was  destined  to 
give  Omai  more  occasions  than  one  of 
being  brought  forward  to  bear  a  prin- 
cipal part  in  its  transactions.  The 
island,  though  never  before  visited  by 
Europeans,  actually  happened  to  have 
other  strangers  residing  in  it ;  and  it 
was  entirely  owing  to  Omai's  being 
one  of  Mr  Gore's  attendants,  that  this 
curious  circumstance  came  to  our 
knowledge.  Scarcely  had  he  been 
landed  upon  the  beach,  when  he  found 
amongst  the  crowd  there  assembled 
three  of  his  own  countiymen,  natives 
of  the  Society  Islands.  At  the  dis- 
tance of  about  200  leagues  from  those 
islands,  an  immense  unknown  ocean 
intervening,  with  such  wretched  sea- 
boats  as  their  inhabitants  are  known 
to  make  use  of,  fit  only  for  a  passage 
where  sight  of  land  is  scarcely  ever 
lost,  such  a  meeting,  at  such  a  place, 
so  accidentally  visited  by  us,  may 
well  be  looked  upon  as  one  of  those 
unexpected  situations  with  which  the 
writers  of  feigned  adventures  love  to 
surprise  their  readers,  and  which, 
when  they  really  happen  in  common 
life,  deserve  to  be  recorded  for  their 
singularity. 

It  may  easily  be  guessed,  with  what 
mutual  surprise  and  satisfaction  Omai 
and  his  countiymen  engaged  in  con- 
versation. Their  story,  as  related  by 


If  it  had  not  been  for  the  terrible  I  them,   is  an   affecting  one.      About 
kleas  they  conceived  of  the  euns  of  I  twenty  persons  in  number    of  both 


APRIL  1777.]  DISASTROUS  CAKOE  VOYAGE, 

sexes,  had  embarked  on  board  a  canoe 
at  Otaheite,  to  cross  over  to  the  neigh- 
bouring island  Ulietea.  A  violent 
contrary  wind  arising,  they  could 
neither  reach  the  latter,  nor  get  back 
to  the  former.  Their  intended  pass- 
age being  a  very  short  one,  their  stock 
of  provisions  was  scanty  and  soon  ex- 
hausted. The  hardships  they  suffered, 
while  driven  along  by  the  storm  they 
knew  not  whither,  are  not  to  be  con- 
ceived. They  passed  many  days  with- 


107 


out  having  anything  to  eat  or  drink. 
Their  numbers  gradually  diminished, 
worn  out  by  famine  and  fatigue.  Four 
men  only  survived  when  the  canoe 
overset ;  and  then  the  perdition  of 
this  small  remnant  seemed  inevitable. 
However,  they  kept  hanging  by  the 
side  of  their  vessel  during  some  of  the 
last  days,  till  Providence  brought 
them  in  sight  of  the  people  of  this 
island,  who  immediately  sent  out 
canoes,  took  them  off  their  wreck, 
and  brought  them  ashore.  Of  the 
four  who  were  thus  saved,  one  was 
since  dead.  The  other  three,  who 
lived  to  have  this  opportunity  of  giv- 
ing an  account  of  their  almost  mira- 
culous transplantation,  spoke  highly 
of  the  kind  treatment  they  here  met 
with.  And  so  well  satisfied  were  they 
with  their  situation,  that  they  refused 
the  offer  made  to  them  by  our  gentle- 
men, at  Omai's  request,  of  giving  them 
a  passage  on  board  our  ships,  to  re- 
store them  to  their  native  islands. 
The  similarity  of  manners  and  lan- 
guage had  more  than  naturalised  them 
to  this  spot ;  and  the  fresh  connec- 
tions which  they  had  here  formed, 
and  which  it  would  have  been  painful 
to  have  broken  off  after  such  a  length 
of  time,  sufficiently  account  for  their 
declining  to  revisit  the  places  of  their 
birth.  They  had  arrived  upon  this 
island  at  least  twelve  years  ago.  For 
I  learned  from  Mr  Anderson  that  he 
found  they  knew  nothing  of  Captain 
Wallis's  visit  to  Otaheite  in  1765, 
nor  of  several  other  memorable  oc- 
currences, such  as  the  conquest  of 
Ulietea,  by  those  of  Bolabola,  which 
had  preceded  the  arrival  of  the  Euro 
peans.  To  Mr  Anderson  I  am  also 
indebted  for  their  names,  Orououte, 


Otirreroa,  and  Tavee :  the  first,  born 
at  Matavai  in  Otaheite ;  the  second,  at 
Ulietea  ;  and  the  third,  at  Huaheine. 

The  landing  of  our  gentlemen  on 
this  island,  though  they  failed  in  the 
object  of  it,  cannot  but  be  considered 
as  a  very  fortunate  circumstance.  It 
has  proved,  as  we  have  seen,  the 
means  of  bringing  to  our  knowledge 
a  matter  of  fact  not  only  very  curious, 
but  very  instructive.  The  applica- 
tion of  the  above  narrative  is  obvious. 
It  will  serve  to  explain,  better  than  a 
thousand  conjectures  of  speculative 
reasoners,  how  the  detached  parts  of 
the  earth,  and,  in  particular,  how  the 
islands  of  the  South  Sea,  may  have 
been  first  peopled ;  especially  those 
that  lie  remote  from  any  inhabited 
continent,  or  from  each  other. 

This  island  is  called  Wateeoo  by 
the  natives.  It  lies  in  the  Latitude 
of  20°  1'  S.,  and  in  the  Longitude  of 
201°  45'  E.,  and  is  about  six  leagues 
in  circumference.  It  is  a  beautiful 
spot,  with  a  surface  composed  of  hills 
and  plains,  and  covered  with  verdure 
of  many  hues. 

[Having  failed  in  obtaining  some 
effectual  supply  at  Wateeoo,  Captain 
Cook  steered  for  the  smaller  neigh- 
bouring island  previously  observed, 
where  his  boats'  crews  succeeded  in 
procuring  about  100  cocoa-nuts  for 
each  ship,  with  a  quantity  of  grass 
and  leaves  and  branches  of  young 
cocoa-trees,  &c.,  for  the  cattle.  The 
island,  which  was  only  about  three 
miles  in  circumference,  and  uninha- 
bited, was  called,  by  the  natives  of 
Wateeoo,  generally  Otakootaia,  but 
sometimes  Wenooa-ette,  which  signi- 
fies "little  island."  The  navigators 
then  steered  northward  for  Harvey's 
Island,  which  had  been  discovered  in 
1773,  during  Cook's  second  voyage.] 


CHAPTER  III. 

As  we  drew  near  it,  at  8  o'clock  [on 
the  morning  of  the  6th  April],  we  ob- 
served several  canoes  ^v '  off  from  the 
shore ;  and  they  cam*  directly  toward 
the  ships.  This  was  a  sight  that, 


108 

indeed,  surprised  me,  as  no  signs  of 
inhabitants  were  seen  when  the  island 
was  first  discovered,  which  might  be 
owing  to  a  pretty  brisk  wind  that 
then  blew,  and  prevented  their  canoes 
venturing  out,  as  the  ships  passed  to 
leeward,  whereas  now  we  were  to  wind- 
ward. As  we  still  kept  on  toward  the 
island,  six  or  seven  of  the  canoes,  all 
double  ones,  soon  came  near  us. 
There  were  from  three  to  six  men  in 
each  of  them.  They  stopped  at  the  dis- 
tance of  about  a  stone's  throw  from  the 
ship,  and  it  was  some  time  before  Omai 
could  prevail  upon  them  to  come 
alongside ;  but  no  entreaties  could  in- 
duce any  of  them  to  venture  on  board. 
Indeed,  their  disorderly  and  clamor- 
ous behaviour  by  no  means  indicated 
a  disposition  to  trust  us,  or  treat  us 
well.  We  afterward  learned  that  they 
had  attempted  to  take  some  oars  out 
of  the  Discovery's  boat  that  lay  along- 
side, and  struck  a  man  who  endea- 
voured to  prevent  them.  They  also 
cut  away,  with  a  shell,  a  net  with 
meat  which  hung  over  that  ship's 
stern,  and  absolutely  refused  to  restore 
it,  though  we  afterwards  purchased  it 
from  them.  Those  who  were  about 
our  ship  behaved  in  the  same  daring 
manner ;  for  they  made  a  sort  of  hook 
of  a  long  stick,  with  which  they  en- 
deavoured openly  to  rob  us  of  several 
things  ;  and  at  last  actually  got  a 
frock  belonging  to  one  of  our  people, 
that  was  towing  overboard.  At  the 
same  time,  they  immediately  showed 
a  knowledge  of  bartering,  and  sold 
some  fish  they  had  (amongst  which 
was  an  extraordinary  floufcder,  spotted 
like  porphyry,  and  a  cream-coloured 
eel,  spotted  with  black),  for  small  nails, 
of  which  they  were  immoderately  fond, 
and  called  them  "goore."  But,  in- 
deed, they  caught,  with  the  greatest 
avidity,  bits  of  paper  or  anything  else 
that  was  thrown  to  them  ;  and  if 
what  was  thrown  fell  into  the  sea 
they  made  no  scruple  to  s  .vim  after  it. 
These  people  seemed  to  differ  as  much 
in  person  as  in  disposition  from  the 
natives  of  Wateeoo,  though  the  dis- 
tance between  the  two  islands  is  not 
very  great.  Their  colour  was  of  a 
deeper  cast ;  and  several  had  a  fierce, 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.       [Yor.  III.  B.  II.  CH. III. 


aspect  resembling  the  natives 
of  New  Zealand ;  but  some  were  fairer. 
They  had  strong  black  hair,  which 
in  general  they  wore  either  hanging 
loose  about  the  shoulders,  or  tied  in 
a  bunch  on  the  crown  of  the  head. 
Some,  however,  had  it  cropped  pretty 
short ;  and  in  two  or  three  of  them 
it  was  of  a  brown  or  reddish  colour. 
Their  only  covering  was  a  narrow  piece 
of  mat,  wrapt  several  times  round  the 
lower  part  of  the  body,  and  which 
passed  between  the  thighs ;  but  a  fine 
cap  of  red  feathers  was  seen  lying 
in  one  of  the  canoes.  The  shell  of  a 
pearl  oyster  polished,  and  hung  about 
the  neck,  was  the  only  ornamental 
fashion  that  we  observed  amongst 
them ;  for  not  one  of  them  had  adopted 
that  mode  of  ornament,  so  generally 
prevalent  amongst  the  natives  of  this 
ocean,  of  puncturing  or  tattooing  their 
bodies. 

[Lieutenant  King  was  sent,  with  two 
armed  boats,  to  search  for  a  suitable 
anchoring-ground  or  landing-place ; 
but  he  returned  with  a  completely  un- 
favourable report,  and  further  stated, 
that  decided  manifestations  of  hostility 
had  been  made  by  the  natives.  Cap- 
tain Cook,  therefore,  thought  it  pru- 
dent to  run  no  risks  for  the  uncertain 
chance  of  finding  the  grass  and  water 
of  which  the  ships  were  in  need.] 

Being  thus  disappointed  at  all  the 
islands  we  had  met  with  since  our 
leaving  New  Zealand,  and  the  un- 
favourable winds  and  other  unfore- 
seen circumstances  having  unavoid- 
ably retarded  our  progress  so  much, 
it  was  now  impossible  to  think  of 
doing  anything  this  year  in  the  high 
latitudes  of  the  northern  hemisphere, 
from  which  we  wereflfctill  at  so  great  a 
distance,  though  the  season  for  our  ope- 
rations there  was  already  begun.  In 
this  situation  it  was  absolutely  neces- 
sary to  pursue  such  measures  as  were 
most  likely  to  preserve  the  cattle  we 
had  on  board,  in  the  first  place  ;  and, 
in  the  next  place  (which  was  still  a 
more  capital  object),  to  save  the  stores 
and  provisions  of  the  ships  that  we 
might  be  better  enabled  to  prosecute 
our  northern  discoveries,  which  could 
not  now  commence  till  a  year  later 


APRIL  1777.] 


PALMEKSTON'S  ISLAND. 


109 


than  was  originally  intended.  If  I 
had  been  so  fortunate  as  to  have  pro- 
cured a  supply  of  water  and  of  grass 
at  any  of  the  islands  we  had  lately 
visited,  it  was  my  purpose  to  have 
stood  back  to  the  south  till  I  had  met 
with  a  westerly  wind.  But  the  cer- 
tain consequence  of  doing  this  with- 
out such  a  supply  would  have  been 
the  loss  of  all  the  cattle  before  we 
could  possibly  reach  Otaheite,  without 
gaining  any  one  advantage  with  regard 
to  the  great  object  of  our  voyage.  I 
therefore  determined  to  bear  away  for 
the  Friendly  Islands,  where  I  was 
sure  of  meeting  with  abundance  of 
everything  I  wanted  ;  and  it  being 
necessary  to  run  in  the  night  as  well 
as  in  the  day,  I  ordered  Captain 
Clerke  to  keep  about  a  league  ahead 
of  the  Resolution.  I  used  this  pre- 
caution, because  his  ship  could  best 
claw  off  the  land,  and  it  was  very 
possible  we  might  fall  in  with  some 
in  our  passage. 

At  daybreak  in  the  morning  of  the 
13th,  we  saw  Palmerston  Island,  bear- 
ing W.  by  S.,  distant  about  five 
leagues.  However,  we  did  not  get 
up  with  it  till  8  o'clock  the  next 
morning,  I  then  sent  four  boats, 
three  from  the  Resolution  and  one 
from  the  Discovery,  with  an  officer  in 
each,  to  search  the  coast  for  the  most 
convenient  landing-place.  For  now 
we  were  under  an  absolute  necessity 
of  procuring  from  this  island  some 
food  for  the  cattle,  otherwise  we  must 
have  lost  them.  What  is  compre- 
hended under  the  name  of  Palmerston's 
Island  is  a  group  of  small  islets,  of 
which  there  are,  in  the  whole,  nine 
or  ten,  lying  in  a  circular  direction, 
and  connected  together  by  a  reef  of 
coral  rocks.  The  boats  first  examined 
the  south-easternmost  of  the  islets 
which  compose  this  group ;  and,  fail- 
ing there,  ran  down  to  the  second, 
where  we  had  the  satisfaction  to  see 
them  land.  I  then  bore  down  with 
the  ships  till  abreast  of  the  place,  and 
there  we  kept  standing  oft'  and  on. 
For  no  bottom  was  to  be  found  to 
anchor  upon,  which  was  not  of  much 
consequence,  as  the  party  who  had 
landed  from  our  boats  were  the  only 


human  beings  upon  the  island.  There 
were  no  traces  of  inhabitants  having 
ever  been  here,  if  we  except  a  small 
piece  of  a  canoe  that  was  found  upon 
the  beach,  which  probably  may  have 
drifted  from  some  other  island.  But, 
what  is  pretty  extraordinary,  we  saw 
several  small  brown  rats  on  this  spot, 

circumstance,  perhaps,  difficult  to 
account  for,  unless  we  allow  that  they 
were  imported  in  the  canoe  of  which 
we  saw  the  remains.  After  the  boats 
were  laden,  I  returned  on  board,  leav- 
ing Mr  Gore  with  a  party  to  pass  the 
night  on  shore,  in  order  to  be  ready 
to  go  to  work  early  the  next  morning. 

[The  next  three  days  were  spent  in 
provisioning  the  ships  from  this  and 
other  islets  of  the  group,  where 
cocoa-trees  and  vegetation  suitable 
for  feeding  the  cattle  abounded,  but 
where  water  was  not  to  be  found — the 
islets  being  merely  the  heads  or  sum- 
mits of  coral  rock.  Twelve  hundred 
cocoa-nuts  were  shipped  and  equally 
divided  among  the  whole  crew,  while 
the  fish  and  birds,  which  were  caught 
in  abundance,  afforded  a  salutary  and 
welcome  relief  from  the  monotony  of 
ship-fare.] 

After  leaving  Palmerston's  Island 
I  steered  W.  with  a  view  to  make  tho 
best  of  my  way  to  Annamooka.  We 
still  continued  to  have  variable  winds, 
frequently  between  the  N.  and  W., 
with  squalls,  some  thunder,  and  much 
rain.  During  these  showers,  which 
were  generally  very  copious,  we  saved 
a  considerable  quantity  of  water ;  and 
finding  that  we  could  get  a  greater 
supply  by  the  rain  in  one  hour  than 
we  could  get  by  distillation  in  a  month, 
I  laid  aside  the  still  as  a  thing  attended 
with  more  trouble  than  profit.  The 
heat,  which  had  been  great  for  about  a 
month,  became  now  much  more  dis- 
agreeable in  this  close  rainy  weather ; 
and,  from  the  moisture  attending  it, 
threatened  soon  to  be  noxious,  as  tho 
ships  could  not  be  kept  dry,  nor  tho 
scuttles  open,  for  the  sea.  However, 
it  is  remarkable  enough  that  though 
the  only  refreshment  we  had  received 
since  leaving  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope 
was  that  at  JSTew  Zealand,  there  was 
not  as  yet  a  single  person  on  board 


110 

sick,  from  the  constant  use  of  salt 
food  or  vicissitude  of  climate. 

[Savage  Island,  which  Cook  had 
discovered  in  1774,  was  passed  in  the 
night  between  the  24th  and  25th  of 
April ;  on  the  28th,  in  the  afternoon, 
Annainooka  was  sighted  ;  but  as  night 
drew  on,  and  the  weather  was  squally 
and  rainy,  anchor  was  cast  two  leagues 
from  the  neighbouring  isle  of  Kom- 
ango.] 


CHAPTER  IV. 

SOON  after  we  had  anchored,  two 
canoes,  the  one  with  four  and  the 
other  with  three  men,  paddled  to- 
ward us,  and  came  alongside  without 
the  least  hesitation.  They  brought 
some  cocoa-nuts,  bread-fruit,  plan- 
tains, and  sugar-cane,  which  they 
bartered  with  us  for  nails.  One  of 
the  men  came  on  board  ;  and  when 
these  canoes  had  left  us,  another 
visited  us,  but  did  not  stay  long, 
as  night  was  approaching.  Kom- 
ango,  the  island  nearest  to  us,  was  at 
least  five  miles  off,  which  shows  the 
hazard  these  people  would  run  in 
order  to  possess  a  few  of  our  most 
trifling  articles.  Besides  this  sup- 
ply from  the  shore,  we  caught  this 
evening,  with  hooks  and  lines,  a  con- 
siderable quantity  of  fish.  Next 
morning  at  4  o'clock  I  sent  Lieuten- 
ant King  with  two  boats  to  Komango 
to  procure  refreshments,  and  at  five 
made  the  signal  to  Aveigh,  in  order  to 
ply  up  to  Annamooka,  the  wind  being 
unfavourable  at  NW. 

It  was  no  sooner  daylight  .than  we 
were  visited  by  six  or  seven  canoes  from 
different  islands,  bringing  with  them, 
besides  fruits  and  roots,  two  pigs, 
several  fowls,  some  large  wood-pigeons, 
small  rails,  and  large  violet-coloured 
coots.  All  these  they  exchanged  with 
us  for  beads,  nails,  hatchets,  &c.  They 
had  also  other  articles  of  commerce  ; 
such  as  pieces  of  their  cloth;  fish- 
hooks, small  baskets,  musical  reeds, 
and  some  clubs,  spears,  and  bows. 
But  I  ordered  that  no  curiosities 
should  be  purchased  till  the  ships 
should  be  supplied  with  provisions,  | 


OOOK'S  VOYAGES.       [VoY.lII.  B.II.C.;.  IV. 


and  leave  given  for  that  purpose. 
Knowing,  also,  from  experience,  that 
if  all  our  people  might  trade  with 
the  natives  according  to  their  own 
caprice,  perpetual  quarrels  would  en- 
sue, I  ordered  that  particular  persons 
should  manage  the  traffic  both  on 
board  and  on  shore,  prohibiting  all 
others  to  interfere.  Before  mid-day 
Mr  King's  boat  returned  with  seven 
hogs,  some  fowls,  a  quantity  of  fruit 
and  roots  for  ourselves,  and  some 
grass  for  the  cattle.  His  party  was 
very  civilly  treated  at  Komango. 
The  inhabitants  did  not  seem  to  be 
numerous ;  and  their  huts,  which 
stood  close  to  eacli  other,  within  a 
plantain  walk,  were  but  indifferent. 
Not  far  from  them  was  a  pretty  large 
pond  of  fresh  water,  tolerably  good  ; 
but  there  was  not  any  appearance  of 
a  stream.  With  Mr  King  came  on 
board  the  chief  of  the  island,  named 
Tooboulangee,  and  another  whoso 
name  was  Taipa.  They  brought  with 
them  a  hog  as  a  present  to  me,  and 
promised  more  the  next  day. 

As  soon  as  the  boats  were  aboard, 
I  stood  for  Annamooka ;  and  the 
wind  being  scant,  I  intended  to  go 
between  Aunamooka-ette,1  and  the 
breakers  to  the  SE.  of  it.  But,  on 
drawing  near,  we  met  with  very  irre- 
gular soundings,  varying,  every  cast, 
ten  or  twelve  fathoms.  This  obliged 
me  to  give  up  the  design,  and  to  go 
to  the  southward  of  all ;  which  carried 
us  to  leeward,  and  made  it  necessary 
to  spend  the  night  under  sail.  It  was 
very  dark,  and  we  had  the  wind  from 
every  direction,  accompanied  with 
heavy  showers  of  rain.  So  that,  at 
daylight  the  next  morning,  we  found 
ourselves  much  farther  off  than  we 
had  been  the  evening  before  ;  and  the 
little  wind  that  now  blew  was  right 
in  our  teeth. 

We  continued  to  ply  all  day  to  very 
little  purpose,  and  in  the  evening 
anchored.  Tooboulangee  and  Taipa 
kept  their  promise,  and  brought  oif 
to  me  some  hogs.  Several  others 
were  also  procured  by  bartering  from 
different  canoes  that  followed  us,  an.] 


That  is,  Little  Annamooka, 


MAT  1777.]  TRANSACTIONS  AT  ANNAMOORA. 


Ill 


as  much  fruit  as  we  could  well  man- 
age. It  was  remarkable  that  during 
the  whole  day  our  visitors  from  the 
islands  would  hardly  part  with  any 
of  their  commodities  to  anybody  "but 
me.  Captain  Clerke  did  not  get 
above  one  or  two  hogs. 

At  4  o'clock  next  morning  I 
ordered  a  boat  to  be  hoisted  out,  and 
sent  the  master  to  sound  the  SW. 
side  of  Annamooka.  In  the  mean- 
time the  ships  were  got  under  sail, 
and  wrought  up  to  the  island.  When 
the  master  returned,  he  reported  that 
he  had  sounded  between  Great  and 
Little  Annamooka,  where  he  found 
ten  and  twelve  fathoms'  depth  of 
water,  the  bottom  coral  sand;  that 
the  place  was  very  well  sheltered 
from  all  winds  ;  but  that  there  was 
no  fresh  water  to  be  found,  except  at 
some  distance  inland,  and  even  there 
little  of  it  was  to  be  got,  and  that 
little  not  good.  For  this  reason 
only,  and  it  was  a  very  sufficient  one, 
I  determined  to  anchor  on  the  north 
side  of  the  island,  where,  during  my 
last  voyage,  I  had  found  a  place  fit 
both  for  watering  and  landing.  It 
was  not  above  a  league  distant,  and 
yet  we  did  not  reach  it  till  5  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon,  being  considerably 
retarded  by  the  great  number  of 
canoes  that  continually  crowded  round 
the  ships,  bringing  to  us  abundant 
supplies  of  the  produce  of  their 
island.  Amongst  these  canoes  there 
were  some  double  ones,  with  a  large 
sail,  that  carried  between  forty  and 
fifty  men  each.  These  sailed  round 
us,  apparently  with  the  same  ease  as 
if  we  had  been  at  anchor.  There 
were  several  women  in  the  canoes, 
who  were,  perhaps,  incited  by  curi- 
osity to  visit  us  ;  though,  at  the  same 
time,  they  bartered  as  eagerly  as  the 
men,  and  used  the  paddle  with  equal 
labour  and  dexterity.  I  came  to  an 
anchor  in  eighteen  fathoms  water,  the 
bottom  coarse  coral  sand  ;  the  island 
extending  from  E.  to  SW.,  and  the 
W.  point  of  the  westernmost  cove 
SE.t  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile 
distant.  Thus  I  resumed  the  very 
tame  station  which  I  had  occupied 
when  I  visited  Annamooka  thi 


years  before  ;  and,  probably,  almost 
in  the  same  place  where  Tasman,  the 
first  discoverer  of  this  and  some  of 
the  neighbouring  islands,  anchored  in 
1643.1 

Finding  that  we  had  quite  ex- 
hausted the  island  of  almost  every 
article  of  food  that  it  afforded,  I  em- 
ployed the  llth  in  moving  off  from 
the  shore  the  horses,  observatories, 
and  other  things  that  we  had  landed, 
as  also  the  party  of  marines  who  had 
mounted  guard  at  our  station,  intend- 
ing to  sail  as  soon  as  the  Discovery 
should  have  recovered  her  best  bower 
anchor.  The  12th  and  the  13th  were 
spent  in  attempting  the  recovery  of 
Captain  Clerke's  anchor,  which,  after 
much  trouble,  was  happily  accom- 
plished ;  and  on  the  14th,  in  the 
morning,  we  got  under  sail  and  left 
Annamooka. 

To  the  north  and  north-east  of 
Annamooka,  and  in  the  direct  tract 
to  Hapaee,  whither  we  were  now 
bound,  the  sea  is  sprinkled  with  a 
great  number  of  small  isles.  Amidst 
the  shoals  and  rocks  adjoining  to 
this  group,  I  could  not  be  assured 
that  there  was  a  free  or  safe  passage 
for  such  large  ships  as  ours  ;  though 
the  natives  sailed  through  the  inter- 
vals in  their  canoes.  For  this  sub- 
stantial reason,  when  we  weighed 
anchor  from  Annamooka  I  thought  it 
necessary  to  go  to  the  westward  of 
the  above  islands,  and  steered  NN  W. 
toward  Kao  and  Toofoa,  the  two  most 
westerly  islands  in  sight,  and  remark- 
able for  their  great  height.  Feenou 
and  his  attendants  remained  on  board 
the  Eesolution  till  near  noon,  when 
he  went  into  the  large  sailing  canoe 
which  had  brought  him  from  Tonga- 
taboo,  and  stood  in  amongst  the  clus- 


1  Captain  Cook,  accompanied  by 
Captain  Clerke,  went  ashore  here  to 
fix  a  place  for  their  observatories, 
when  Loobu,  the  chief  of  the  island, 
showed  them  every  attention  and 
civility.  On  the  6th  they  were  visited 
by  a  chief  from  Tongataboo,  whose 
name  was  Feenou,  who  was  fond  of 
associating  with  them,  and  who 
dined  on  board. 


112 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.       [VoY.III.B.II.CH.lV. 


ter  of  islands  above  mentioned,  of 
which  we  were  now  almost  abreast ; 
and  a  tide  or  current  from  the  west- 
ward had  set  us,  since  our  sailing  in 
the  morning,  much  over  toward 
them.  They  lie  scattered  at  unequal 
distances,  and  are,  in  general,  nearly 
as  high  as  Annamooka  ;  but  only 
from  two  or  three  miles  to  half-a- 
mile  in  length,  and  some  of  them 
scarcely  so  much.  They  have  either 
steep  rocky  shores,  like  Annamooka, 
or  reddish  cliffs ;  but  some  have 
sandy  beaches  extending  almost  their 
whole  length.  Most  of  them  are 
entirely  clothed  with  trees,  amongst 
which  are  many  cocoa-palms  ;  and 
each  forms  a  prospect  like  a  beautiful 
garden  placed  in  the  sea.  To  heighten 
this,  the  serene  weather  we  now  had 
contributed  very  much ;  and  the  whole 
might  supply  the  imagination  with 
an  idea  of  some  fairy-laud  realised. 

At  4  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  being 
the  length  of  Kotoo,  the  westernmost 
of  the  above  cluster  of  small  islands, 
we  steered  to  the  north,  leaving 
Toofoa  and  Kao  on  our  larboard, 
keeping  along  the  west  side  of  a  reef 
of  rocks  which  lie  to  the  westward  of 
Kotoo,  till  we  came  to  their  northern 
extremity,  round  which  we  hauled  in 
for  the  island.  It  was  our  intention 
to  have  anchored  for  the  night ;  but 
it  came  upon  us  before  we  could  find 
a  place  in  less  than  fifty-five  fathoms 
water ;  and  rather  than  come  to  in 
this  depth  I  chose  to  spend  the  night 
Tinder  sail.  "We  had  in  the  afternoon 
been  within  two  leagues  of  Toofoa, 
the  smoke  of  which  we  saw  several 
times  in  the  day.  The  Friendly 
Islanders  have  some  superstitious 
notions  about  the  volcano  upon  it, 
which  they  call  "Kollofeea,"  and 
say  it  is  an  "Otooa,"  or  divinity. 
According  to  their  account,  it  some- 
times throws  up  very  large  stones ; 
and  they  compare  the  cra.ter  to  the 
size  oi  a  small  islet,  which  has  never 
ceased  smoking  in  their  memory ; 
nor  have  they  any  tradition  that  it 
ever  did.  We  sometimes  saw  the 
smoke  rising  from  the  centre  of  the 
i^and,  while  we  were  at  Annamooka, 
though  at  the  distance  of  at  leost  ten 


Toofoa,  we  were  told,  is 
but  thinly  inhabited,  but  the  water 
upon  it  is  good. 

At  day-break  the  next  morning, 
being  then  not  far  from  Kao,  which 
is  a  vast  rock  of  a  conic  figure,  we 
steered  to  the  east,  for  the  passage 
between  the  islands  Footooha  and 
Hafaiva,  with  a  gentle  breeze  at  SE. 
About  10  o'clock  Feenou  came  on 
board,  and  remained  with  us  all  day. 
He  brought  with  him  two  hogs  and  a 
quantity  of  fruit ;  and,  in  the  course 
of  the  day,  several  canoes,  from  the 
different  islands  round  us,  came  to 
barter  quantities  of  the  latter  article, 
which  was  very  acceptable,  as  our 
stock  was  nearly  expended.  After 
passing  Footooha,  we  met  with  a  reef 
of  rocks ;  and,  as  there  was  but  little 
wind,  it  cost  us  some  trouble  to  keep 
clear  of  them.  This  reef  lies  between 
Footooha  and  Neeneeva,  which  is  a 
small  low  isle,  in  the  direction  of 
ENE.  from  Footooha,  at  the  distance 
of  seven  or  eight  miles.  Being  past 
the  reef  of  rocks  just  mentioned,  we 
hauled  up  for  Neeneeva,  in  hopes  of 
finding  anchorage;  but  were  again 
disappointed,  and  obliged  to  spend 
the  night,  making  short  boards.1 
For,  although  we  had  land  in  every 
direction,  the  sea  was  unfathomable. 
In  the  course  of  this  night  we  could 
plainly  see  flames  issuing  from  the 
volcano  upon  Toofoa,  though  to  no 
great  height. 

At  daybreak  in  the  morning  of  the 
16th,  with  a  gentle  breeze  at  SE., 
we  steered  NE.  for  Hapaee,  which 
was  now  in  sight ;  and  we  could 
judge  it  to  be  low  land,  from  the 
trees  only  appearing  above  the  water. 
About  9  o'clock  we  could  see  it 
plainly,  forming  three  islands,  nearly 
of  an  equal  size  ;  and  soon  after,  a 
fourth  to  the  southward  of  these,  af 
large  as  the  others.  Each  seemed  t< 
be  about  six  or  seven  miles  long,  anr 
of  a  similar  height  and  appearance. 
The  northernmost  of  them  is  called 
Haanno,  the  next  Foa,  the  third 
Lefooga,  and  the  southernmost  Hoo- 
laiva ;  but  all  four  are  included  by 

1  Tacks. 


MAY  1777.]  RECEPTION 

the  natives  under  the  general  name 
Hapaee. 

The  wind  scanting  upon  us,  we  could 
not  fetch  the  land ;  so  that  we  were 
forced  to  ply  to  windward.  In  doing 
this,  we  once  passed  over  some  coral 
rocks  on  which  we  had  only  six 
fathoms  water  ;  but  the  moment  we 
were  over  them,  found  no  ground 
with  eighty  fathoms  of  line.  "We 
got  up  with  the  northernmost  of 
these  isles  by  sunset ;  and  there 
found  ourselves  in  the  very  same  dis- 
tress, for  want  of  anchorage,  that  we 
had  experienced  the  two  preceding 
evenings  ;  so  that  we  had  another 
night  to  spend  under  sail,  with  land 
and  breakers  in  every  direction.  To- 
wards the  evening  Feenou,  who  had 
been  on  board  all  day,  went  forward 
to  Hapaee,  and  took  Omai  in  the 
canoe  with  him.  He  did  not  forget 
our  disagreeable  situation,  and  kept 
up  a  good  fire  all  night  by  way  of  a 
land-mark.  As  soon  as  the  daylight 
returned,  being  then  close  in  with 
Foa,  we  saw  it  was  joined  to  Haanno 
by  a  reef  running  even  with  the  sur- 
face of  the  sea  from  the  one  island  to 
the  other.  I  now  despatched  a  boat 
to  look  for  anchorage.  A  proper 
place  was  soon  found,  and  we  came 
to  abreast  of  a  reef,  being  that  which 
joins  Lefooga  to  Foa  (in  the  same 
manner  that  Foa  is  joined  to  Haanno), 
having  twenty- four  fathoms'  depth  of 
water.  We  lay  before  a  creek  in  the 
reef,  which  made  it  convenient  land- 
ing at  all  times  ;  and  we  were  not 
above  three-quarters  of  a  mile  from 
the  shore. 


CHAPTER  V. 

BY  the  time  we  had  anchored,  the 
ships  were  filled  with  the  natives, 
and  surrounded  by  a  multitude  of 
canoes  filled  also  with  them.  They 
brought  from  the  shore  hogs,  fowls, 
fruit,  and  roots,  which  they  ex- 
changed for  hatchets,  knives,  nails, 
beads,  and  cloth.  Feenou  and  Omai 
having  come  on  board,  after  it  was 
light,  in  order  to  introduce  me  to 
the  people  of  the  island,  I  soon  ac- 


AT  HAPAEE. 


113 


companied  them  on  shore  for  that 
purpose,  landing  at  the  north  part  of 
Lefooga,  a  little  to  the  right  of  the 
ships'  station. 

The  chief  conducted  me  to  a  house, 
or  rather  a  hut,  situated  close  to  the 
sea-beach,  which  I  had  seen  brought 
thither  but  a  few  minutes  before  for 
our  reception.  In  this  Feenou,  Omai, 
and  myself,  were  seated.  The  other 
chiefs  and  the  multitude  composed  a 
circle  on  the  outside,  fronting  us, 
and  they  also  sat  down.  I  was  then 
asked,  "  How  long  I  intended  to 
stay  ? "  On  my  saying,  ' '  Five  days, " 
Taipa  was  ordered  to  come  and  sit  by 
me,  and  proclaim  this  to  the  people. 
He  then  harangued  them,  in  a  speech 
mostly  dictated  by  Feenou.  The  pur- 
port of  it,  as  I  learned  from  Omai,  was 
that  they  were  all,  both  old  and 
young,  to  look  upon  me  as  a  friend, 
who  intended  to  remain  with  them  a 
few  days ;  that,  during  my  stay,  they 
must  not  steal  anything,  nor  molest 
me  any  other  way ;  and  that  it  was 
expected  they  should  bring  hogs, 
fowls,  fruit,  &c.,  to  the  ships,  where 
they  would  receive  in  exchange  for 
them  such  and  such  things  which  he 
enumerated.  Soon  after  Taipa  had 
finished  this  address  to  the  assembly, 
Feenou  left  us.  Taipa  then  took 
occasion  to  signify  to  me,  that  it  was 
necessary  I  should  make  a  present  to 
the  chief  of  the  island,  whose  name 
was  Earoupa.  I  was  not  unprepared 
for  this ;  and  gave  him  such  articles 
as  far  exceeded  his  expectation.  My 
liberality  to  him  brought  upon  me 
demands  of  the  same  kind  from  two 
chiefs  of  other  isles  who  were  present 
and  from  Taipa  himself.  When  Fee- 
nou returned,  which  was  immediately 
after  I  had  made  the  last  of  these 
presents,  he  pretended  to  be  angry 
with  Taipa  for  suffering  me  to  give 
away  so  much  ;  but  I  looked  upon 
this  as  a  mere  finesse,  being  confident 
that  he  acted  in  concert  with  the 
others.  He  now  took  his  seat  again 
and  ordered  Earoupa  to  sit  by  him 
and  to  harangue  the  people  as  Taipa 
had  done,  and  to  the  same  purpose  ; 
dictating  as  before,  the  heads  of  the 
speech. 


114 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.         [VoY.  III.  B.  II.  CH.  V. 


These  ceremonies  being  performed, 
the  chief,  at  my  request,  conducted 
me  to  three  stagnant  pools  of  fresh 
water,  as  he  was  pleased  to  call  it ; 
and,  indeed,  in  one  of  these  the  water 
was  tolerable,  and  the  situation  not 
inconvenient  .for  filling  our  casks. 
After  viewing  the  watering-place,  we 
returned  to  our  former  station,  where 
I  found  a  baked  hog  and  some  yams, 
smoking  hot,  ready  to  be  carried  on 
board  for  my  dinner.  I  invited 
Feenou  and  his  friends  to  partake  of 
it,  and  we  embarked  for  the  ship ; 
but  none  but  himself  sat  down  with 
us  at  the  table.  After  dinner  I  con- 
ducted them  on  shore  ;  and  before  I 
returned  on  board,  the  chief  gave  me 
a  fine  large  turtle  and  a  quantity  of 
yams.  Our  supply  of  provisions  was 
copious,  for  in  the  course  of  the  day 
we  got,  by  barter  alongside  the  ship, 
about  twenty  small  hogs,  besides 
fruit  and  roots.  I  was  told  that  on 
my  first  landing  in  the  morning,  a 
man  came  off  to  the  ships,  and 
ordered  every  one  of  the  natives  to 
go  on  shore.  Probably,  this  was 
done  with  a  view  to  have  the  whole 
body  of  inhabitants  present  at  the 
ceremony  of  my  reception  ;  for  when 
that  was  over,  multitudes  of  them  re- 
turned again  to  the  ships. 

Next  morning  early,  Feenou  and 
Omai,  who  scarcely  ever  quitted  the 
chief,  and  now  slept  on  shore,  came 
on  board.  The  object  of  the  visit 
was  to  require  my  presence  upon  the 
island.  After  some  time  I  accom- 
panied them,  and,  upon  lauding, 
was  conducted  to  the  same  place 
where  I  had  been  seated  the  day  be- 
fore, where  I  saw  a  large  concourse  of 
people  already  assembled.  I  guessed 
that  something  more  than  ordinary 
was  in  agitation,  but  could  not  tell 
what,  nor  could  Omai  inform  me.  1 
had  not  been  long  seated,  before  near 
a  hundred  of  the  natives  appeared  in 
sight,  and  advanced,  laden  with 
yams,  bread-fruit,  plantains,  cocoa- 
nuts,  and  sugar-canes.  They  depos- 
ited their  burdens  in  two  heaps,  or 
piles,  upon  our  left,  being  the  side 
they  came  from.  Soon  after  arrived 
a  liumber  of  othens  from  the  right, 


bearing  the  same  kind  of  articles  ; 
which  were  collected  into  two  piles 
upon  that  side.  To  these  were  tied 
two  pigs  and  six  fowls  ;  and  to  those 
upon  the  left,  six  pigs  and  two 
turtles.  Earoupa  seated  himself  be- 
fore the  several  articles  upon  the  left, 
and  another  chief  before  those  upon 
the  right ;  they  being,  as  I  judged, 
the  two  chiefs  who  had  collected  them 
by  order  of  Feenou,  who  seemed  to 
be  as  implicitly  obeyed  here  as  he 
had  been  at  Annamooka,  and,  in 
consequence  of  his  commanding  supe- 
riority over  the  chiefs  of  Hapaee, 
had  laid  this  tax  upon  them  for  the 
present  occasion. 

As  soon  as  this  munificent  collec- 
tion of  provisions  was  laid  down  in 
order,  and  disposed  to  the  best  ad- 
vantage, the  bearers  of  it  joined  the 
multitude,  who  formed  a  large  circle 
round  the  whole.  Presently  after,  a 
number  of  men  entered  this  circle,  or 
area,  before  us,  armed  with  clubs 
made  of  the  green  branches  of  the 
cocoa-nut  tree.  These  paraded  about 
for  a  few  minutes,  and  then  retired, 
the  one  half  to  one  side,  and  the 
other  half  to  the  other  side  ;  seating 
themselves  before  the  spectators. 
Soon  after,  they  successively  entered 
the  lists,  and  entertained  us  with 
single  combats.  One  champion,  ris- 
ing up  and  stepping  forward  from 
one  side,  challenged  those  of  the 
other  side,  by  expressive  gestures 
more  than  by  words,  to  send  one  of 
their  body  to  oppose  him.  If  the 
challenge  was  accepted,  which  was 
generally  the  case,  the  combatants 
put  themselves  in  proper  attitudes, 
and  then  began  the  engagement, 
which  continued  till  one  or  other 
owned  himself  conquered,  or  till 
their  weapons  were  broken.  As  soon 
as  each  combat  was  over,  the  victor 
squatted  himself  down  facing  the 
chief,  then  rose  up  and  retired.  At 
the  same  time,  some  old  men,  who 
seemed  to  sit  as  judges,  gave  their 
plaudit  in  a  few  words,  and  the  mul- 
titude, especially  those  on  the  side  to 
which  the  victor  belonged,  celebrated 
the  glory  he  had  acquired,  in  two  or 
three  Unzzas. 


MAY  1777.]        WRESTLING  AND 

This  entertainment  was,  now  and 
then,  suspended  for  a  few  minutes. 
During  these  intervals  there  were 
both  wrestling  and  boxing  matches. 
The  first  were  performed  in  the  same 
manner  as  at  Otaheite;  and  the 
second  differed  very  little  from  the 
method  practised  in  England.  But 
what  struck  us  with  most  surprise 
was  to  see  a  couple  of  lusty  wenches 
step  forth  and  begin  boxing  without 
the  least  ceremony,  and  with  as  much 
art  as  the  men.  This  contest,  how- 
ever, did  not  last  above  half-a-minute 
before  one  of  them  gave  it  up.  The 
conquering  heroine  received  the  same 
applause  from  the  spectators  which 
they  bestowed  upon  the  successful 
combatants  of  the  other  sex.  We 
expressed  some  dislike  at  this  part  of 
the  entertainment;  which,  however, 
did  not  prevent  two  other  females 
from  entering  the  lists.  They  seemed 
to  be  girls  of  spirit,  and  would  cer- 
tainly have  given  each  other  a  good 
drubbing,  if  two  old  women  had  not 
interfered  to  part  them.  All  these 
combats  were  exhibited  in  the  midst 
of  at  least  3000  people,  and  were  con- 
ducted with  the  greatest  good  humour 
on  all  sides;  though  some  of  the 
champions,  women  as  well  as  men, 
received  blows  which,  doubtless,  they 
must  have  felt  for  some  time  after. 

As  soon  as  these  diversions  were 
ended,  the  chief  told  me  that  the 
heaps  of  provisions  on  our  right  hand 
were  a  present  to  Omai;  and  that 
those  on  our  left  hand,  being  about 
two-thirds  of  the  whole  quantity, 
were  given  to  me.  He  added,  that  I 
might  take  them  on  board  whenever 
it  was  convenient;  but  that  there 
would  be  no  occasion  to  set  any  of 
our  people  as  guards  over  them,  as  I 
might  be  assured  that  not  a  single 
cocoa-nut  would  be  taken  away  by 
the  natives.  So  it  proved ;  for  I  left 
everything  behind,  and  returned  to 
the  ship  to  dinner,  carrying  the  chief 
with  me ;  and  when  the  provisions 
were  removed  on  board  in  the  after- 
noon, not  a  single  article  was  miss- 
ing. There  was  as  much  as  loaded 
four  boats ;  and  I  could  not  but  be 
struck  with  the  munificence  of  Fee- 


BOXING  MATCHES. 


115 


nou,  for  this  present  far  exceeded  any 
I  had  ever  received  from  any  of  the 
sovereigns  of  the  various  islands  I 
had  visited  in  the  Pacific  Ocean.  I 
lost  no  time  in  convincing  my  friend 
that  I  was  not  insensible  of  his  liber- 
ality; for,  before  he  quitted  my 
ship,  I  bestowed  upon  him  such  of 
our  commodities  as  I  guessed  were 
I  most  valuable  in  his  estimation. 
And  the  return  I  made  was  so  much 
to  his  satisfaction  that,  as  soon  as  he 
got  on  shore,  he  left  me  still  indebted 
to  him  by  sending  me  a  fresh  pre- 
sent, consisting  of  two  large  hogs,  a 
considerable  quantity  of  cloth,  and 
some  yams. 

Feenou  had  expressed  a  desire  to 
see  the  marines  go  through  their 
military  exercise.  .  As  I  was  desirous 
to  gratify  his  curiosity,  I  ordered 
them  all  ashore  from  both  ships  in 
the  morning  of  the  20th.  After  they 
had  performed  various  evolutions, 
and  fired  several  volleys,  with  which 
the  numerous  body  of  spectators 
seemed  well  pleased,  the  chief  enter- 
tained us  in  his  turn  with  an  exhibi- 
tion which,  as  was  acknowledged  by 
us  all,  was  performed  with  a  dexterity 
and  exactness  far  surpassing  the  spec- 
imen we  had  given  of  our  military 
manoeuvres.  It  was  a  kind  of  a 
dance  so  entirely  different  from  any- 
thing I  had  ever  seen,  that  I  fear  I 
can  give  no  description  that  will  con- 
vey any  tolerable  idea  of  it,  to  my 
readers.  It  was  performed  by  men ; 
and  105  persons  bore  their  parts  in 
it.  Each  of  them  had  in  his  hand 
an  instrument  neatly  made,  shaped 
somewhat  like  a  paddle,  of  two  feet 
and  a  half  in  length,  with  a  small 
handle  and  a  thin  blade ;  so  that  they 
were  very  light.  With  these  instru- 
ments they  made  many  and  various 
flourishes,  each  of  which  was  accom- 
panied with  a  different  attitude  of 
the  body  or  a  different  movement. 
At  first  the  performers  ranged  them- 
selves in  three  lines ;  and,  by  various 
evolutions,  each  man  changed  his 
station  in  such  a  manner  that  those 
who  had  been  in  the  rear  came  into 
the  front.  Nor  did  they  remain 
long  in  the  same  position  j  but  these 


116 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.         [Voy.  III.  B.  II.  CH.  Y. 


changes  were  made  by  pretty  quick 
transitions.  At  one  time  they  ex- 
tended themselves  in  one  line;  they 
then  formed  into  a  semicircle;  and, 
lastly,  into  two  square  columns. 
"While  this  last  movement  was  exe- 
cuting, one  of  them  advanced,  and 
performed  an  antic  dance  before  me ; 
with  which  the  whole  ended. 

The  musical  instruments  consisted 
of  two  drums,  or  rather  two  hollow 
logs  of  wood,  from  which  some  varied 
notes  were  produced  by  beating  on 
them  with  two  sticks.  It  did  not, 
however,  appear  to  me  that  the 
dancers  were  much  assisted  or  direc- 
ted by  these  sounds,  but  by  a  chorus 
of  vocal  music,  in  which  all  the  per- 
formers joined  at  the  same  time. 
Their  song  was  not  destitute  of  pleas- 
ing melody;  and  all  their  corre- 
sponding motions  were  executed  with 
so  much  skill,  that  the  numerous 
body  of  dancers  seemed  to  act  as  if 
they  were  one  great  machine.  It 
was  the  opinion  of  every  one  of  us 
that  such  a  performance  would  have 
met  with  universal  applause  on  a 
European  theatre;  and  it  so  far  ex- 
ceeded any  attempt  we  had  made  to 
entertain  them,  that  they  seemed  to 
pique  themselves  upon  the  superior- 
ity they  had  over  us.  As  to  our 
musical  instruments,  they  held  none 
of  them  in  the  least  esteem,  except 
the  drum;  and  even  that  they  did 
not  think  equal  to  their  own.  Our 
French  horns,  in  particular,  seemed 
to  be  held  in  great  contempt ;  for 
neither  here,  nor  at  any  other  of  the 
islands,  would  they  pay  the  smallest 
attention  to  them. 

In  order  to  give  them  a  more  favour- 
able opinion  of  English  amusements, 
and  to  leave  their  minds  fully  im- 
pressed with  the  deepest  sense  of  our 
superior  attainments,  1  directed  some 
fireworks  to  bo  got  ready ;  and,  after 
it  was  dark,  played  them  off  in  the 
presence  of  Feenou,  the  other  chiefs, 
and  a  vast  concourse  of  their  people. 
Some  of  the  preparations  we  found 
damaged ;  but  others  of  them  were  in 
excellent  order,  and  succeeded  so 
perfectly  as  to  answer  the  end  I  had 
in  view.  Our  water  and  sky  rockets, 


in  particular,  pleased  'and  astonished 
them  beyond  all  conception  ;  and  the 
scale  was  now  turned  in  our  favour. 
This,  however,  seemed  only  to  furnish 
them  with  an  additional  motive  to 
proceed  to  fresh  exertions  of  their 
very  singular  dexterity  ;  and  our  fire- 
works were  no  sooner  ended,  than  a 
succession,  of  dances,  which  Feenou 
had  got  ready  for  our  entertainment, 
began.  As1  a  prelude  to  them,  a 
band  of  music,  or  chorus  of  eighteen 
men,  seated  themselves  before  us,  iu 
the  centre  of  the  circle  composed  by 
the  numerous  spectators,  the  area  of 
which  was  to  be  the  scene  of  the  ex- 
hibitions. Four  or  five  of  this  band 
had  pieces  of  large  bamboo,  from 
three  to  five  or  six  feet  long,  each 
managed  by  one  man,  who  held  it 
nearly  in  a  vertical  position,  the  upper 
end  open  but  the  other  end  closed  by 
one  of  the  joints.  With  this  close 
end,  the  performers  kept  constantly 
striking  the  ground,  though  slowly, 
thus  producing  different  notes,  accord- 
ing to  the  different  lengths  of  the 
instruments,  but  all  of  them  of  the 
hollow  or  bass  sort ;  to  counteract 
which,  a  person  kept  striking  quickly 
with  two  sticks  a  piece  of  the  same 
substance,  split,  and  laid  along  the 
ground,  and  by  that  means  furnishing 
a  tone  as  acute  as  those  produced  by 
the  others  were  grave.  The  rest  of 
the  band,  as  well  as  those  who  per- 
formed upon  the  bamboos,  sung  a 
slow  and  soft  air,  which  so  tempered 
the  harsher  notes  of  the  above  instru- 
ments, that  no  bystander,  however 
accustomed  to  hear  the  most  perfect 
and  varied  modulation  of  sweet  sounds, 
could  avoid  confessing  the  vast  power 
and  pleasing  effect  of  this  simple  har- 
mony. 

The  concert  having  continued  about 
a  quarter  of  an  hour,  twenty  women 
entered  the  circle.  Most  of  them  had 
upon  their  heads  garlands  of  the  crim- 
sonflowers  of  the  China  rose,  or  others ; 
and  many  of  them  had  ornamented  their 


1  Mr  Anderson's  accountof  the  night 
dances,  being  much  fuller  than  Cap- 
tain Cook's,  was  .adopted  by  the  editor 
of  the  original  edition. 


MAY  1777.]    ENTERTAINMENT  OF  SINGING  AND  DANCING.     117 


persons  with  leaves  of  trees,  cut  with 
a  great  deal  of  nicety  about  the  edges. 
They  made  a  circle  round  the  chorus 
turning  their  faces  toward  it,  and 
began  by  singing  a  soft  air,  to  which 
responses  were  made  by  the  chorus  in 
the  same  tone  ;  and  these  were  repeated 
alternately.  All  this  while,  the  women 
accompanied  their  song  with  several 
very  graceful  motions  of  their  hands 
toward  their  faces,  and  in  other  direc- 
tions at  the  same  time,  making  con- 
stantly a  step  forward,  and  then  back 
again,  with  one  foot,  while  the  other 
was  fixed.  They  then  turned  their 
faces  to  the  assembly,  sung  some  time, 
and  retreated  slowly  in  a  body  to  that 
part  of  the  circle  which  was  opposite 
the  hut  where  the  principal  spectators 
sat.  After  this,  one  of  them  advanced 
from  each  side,  meeting  and  passing 
each  other  in  the  front,  and  continuing 
their  progress  round,  till  they  came  to 
the  rest.  On  which,  two  advanced 
from  each  side,  two  of  whom  also  passed 
each  other,  and  returned  as  the  former; 
but  the  other  two  remained ;  and  to  these 
came  one,  from  each  side,  by  intervals, 
till  the  whole  number  had  again  formed 
a  circle  about  the  chorus.  Their  man- 
ner of  dancing  was  now  changed  to  a 
quicker  measure,  in  which  they  made 
a  kind  of  half  turn  by  leaping,  and 
clapped  their  hands,  and  snapped 
their  fingers,  repeating  some  words  in 
conjunction  with  the  chorus.  Towards 
the  end,  as  the  quickness  of  the  music 
increased,  their  gestures  and  attitudes 
were  varied  with  wonderful  vigour 
and  dexterity ;  and  some  of  their 
motions,  perhaps,  would  with  us  be 
reckoned  rather  indecent.  Though 
this  part  of  the  performance,  most 
probably,  was  not  meant  to  convey 
any  wanton  ideas,  but  merely  to  dis- 
play the  astonishing  variety  of  their 
movements. 

To  this  grand  female  ballet  suc- 
ceeded one  performed  by^fteen  men. 
Some  of  them  were  old ;  but  their 
age  seemed  to  have  abated  little  of 
their  agility  or  ardour  for  the  dance. 
They  were  disposed  in  a  sort  of  circle, 
divided  at  the  front,  with  their  faces 
not  turned  out  toward  the  assembly, 
nor  inward  to  the  chorus  ;  but  one 


half  of  their  circle  faced  forward  as 
they  had  advanced,  and  the  other 
half  in  a  contrary  direction.  They 
sometimes  sung  slowly  in  concert  with 
the  chorus  ;  and  while  thus  employed, 
they  also  made  several  very  fine  mo- 
tions with  their  hands,  but  different 
from  those  made  by  the  women,  at 
the  same  time  inclining  the  body  to 
either  side  alternately,  by  raising  one 
leg,  which  was  stretched  outward, 
and  resting  on  the  other  ;  the  arm  of 
the  same  side  being  also  stretched 
fully  upward.  At  other  times,  they 
recited  sentences  in  a  musical  tone, 
which  were  answered  by  the  chorus  ; 
and  at  intervals  increased  the  measure 
of  the  dance,  by  clapping  the  hands, 
and  quickening  the  motions  of  the 
feet,  which,  however,  were  never 
varied.  At  the  end,  the  rapidity  of 
the  music  and  of  the  dancing  increased 
so  much,  that  it  was  scarcely  possi- 
ble to  distinguish  the  different  move- 
ments ;  though  one  might  suppose 
the  actors  were  now  almost  tired,  as 
their  performance  had  lasted  near 
half-an-hour. 

After  a  considerable  interval,  an- 
other act,  as  we  may  call  it,  began. 
Twelve  men  now  advanced,  who  placed 
themselves  in  double  rows  fronting 
each  other,  but  on  opposite  sides  of 
the  circle;  and  on  one  side  a  man 
was  stationed,  who,  as  if  he  had  been 
a  prompter,  repeated  several  sentences, 
to  which  the  twelve  new  performers 
and  the  chorus  replied.  They  then 
sung  slowly,  and  afterwards  danced 
and  sung  more  quickly,  for  about  a 
quarter  of  an  hour,  after  the  manner  of 
the  dancers  whom  they  had  succeeded. 
Soon  after  they  had  finished,  nine 
women  exhibited  themselves,  and  sat 
down  fronting  the  hut  where  the  chief 
was.  A  man  then  rose,  and  struck 
the  first  of  these  women  on  the  back 
with  both  fists  joined.  He  proceeded, 
in  the  same  manner,  to  the  second  and 
third ;  but  when  he  came  to  the  fourth, 
whether  from  accident  or  design  I 
cannot  tell,  instead  of  the  back,  he 
struck  her  on  the  breast.  Upon  this,  a 
person  rose  instantly  from  the  crowd, 
who  brought  him  to  the  ground  with 
a  blow  on  the  head  ;  and  he  was  carried 


118 

off  without  the  least  noise  or  disorder. 
But  this  did  not  save  the  other  live 
women  from  so  odd  a  discipline,  or 
perhaps  necessary  ceremony ;  for  a 
person  succeeded  him,  who  treated 
them  in  the  same  manner.  Their 
disgrace  did  not  end  here  ;  for  when 
they  danced,  they  had  the  mortifica- 
tion to  find  their  performance  twice 
disapproved  of,  and  were  obliged  to 
repeat  it.  This  dance  did  not  differ 
much  from  that  of  the  first  women, 
except  in  this  one  circumstance,  that 
the  present  set  sometimes  raised  the 
body  upon  one  leg,  by  a  sort  of  double 
motion,  and  then  upon  the  other 
alternately,  in  which  attitude  they 
kept  snapping  their  fingers  ;  and  at 
the  end  they  repeated  with  great 
agility  the  brisk  movements  iu  which 
the  former  group  of  female  dancers 
had  shown  themselves  so  expert. 

In  a  little  time,  a  person  entered 
unexpectedly,  and  said  something  in  a 
ludicrous  way  about  the  fireworks  that 
had  been  exhibited,  which  extorted  a 
burst  of  laughter  from  the  multitude. 
After  this,  *we  had  a  dance  composed 
of  the  men  who  attended  or  had  fol- 
lowed Feenou.  They  formed  a  double 
circle  (i.e.,  one  within  another)  of 
twenty-four  each,  round  the  chorus, 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.         [Voy.  III.  B.  II.  CH.  V. 


able  time,  and  then  changed  to  a  much 
quicker  measure,  during  which  they 
repeated  sentences,  either  in  conjunc- 
tion with  the  chorus,  or  in  answer  to 
some  spoken  by  that  band.  They  then 
retreated  to  the  back  part  of  the  circle, 
as  the  women  had  done,  and  again 
advanced,  on  each  side,  in  a  triple 
row,  till  they  formed  a  semicircle, 
which  was  done  very  slowly,  by  in- 
clining the  body  on  one  leg,  and  ad- 
vancing the  other  a  little  wa)*-,  as  they 
put  it  down.  They  accompanied  this 
with  such  a  soft  air  as  they  had  sung 
at  the  beginning  ;  but  soon  changed 
it  to  repeat  sentences  in  a  harsher 
tone,  at  the  same  time  quickening  the 
dance  very  much,  till  they  finished 
with  a  general  shout  and  clap  of  the 
hands.  The  same  was  repeated  several 
times;  but,  at  last,  they  formed  a 


double  circle  as  at  the  beginning, 
danced,  and  repeated  very  quickly, 
and  finally  closed  with  several  very 
dexterous  transpositions  of  the  two 
circles. 

The  entertainments  of  this  memor- 
able night  concluded  with  a  dance,  in 
which  the  principal  people  present 
exhibited.  It  resembled  the  imme- 
diately preceding  one  in  some  respects, 
having  the  same  number  of  performers, 
who  began  nearly  in  the  same  way  ; 
but  their  ending  at  each  interval  was 
different.  For  they  increased  their 
motions  to  a  prodigious  quickness, 
shaking  their  heads  from  shoulder  to 
shoulder  with  such  force,  that  a  spec- 
tator, unaccustomed  to  the  sight,  would 
suppose  that  they  ran  a  risk  of  dislo- 
cating their  necks.  This  was  attended 
with  a  smart  clapping  of  the  hands, 
and  a  kind  of  savage  "Holla!"  or 
shriek,  not  unlike  what  is  sometimes 
practised  in  the  comic  dances  on  our 
European  theatres.  They  formed 
the  triple  semicircle,  as  the  preceding 
dancers  had  done;  and  a  person,  who 
advanced  at  the  head  on  one  side  of 
the  semicircle,  began  by  repeating 
something  in  a  truly  musical  recita- 
tive, which  was  delivered  with  an  air 
so  graceful  as  might  put  to  the  blush 
our  most  applauded  performers.  He 
was  answered  in  the  same  manner  by 
the  person  at  the  head  of  the  opposite 
party.  This  being  repeated  several 
times,  the  whole  body  on  one  side 
joined  in  the  responses  to  the  whole 
corresponding  body  on  the  opposite 
side,  as  the  semicircle  advanced  to 
the  front ;  and  they  finished  by  sing- 
ing and  dancing  as  they  had  begun. 

These  two  last  dances  were  per- 
formed with  so  much  spirit,  and  so 
great  exactness,  that  they  met  with 
universal  approbation.  The  native 
spectators,  who,  no  doubt,  were  per- 
fect judges  whether  the  several  per- 
formances were  properly  executed, 
could  not  withhold  their  applauses  at 
some  particular  parts ;  and  even  a 
stranger,  who  never  saw  the  diversion 
before,  felt  similar  satisfaction  at  the 
same  instant.  For  though,  through 
the  whole,  the  most  strict  concert  was 
observed,  some  of  the  gestures  were 


MAY  1777.]  DESCRIPTION 

so  expressive,  that  it  might  be  said 
they  spoke  the  language  that  accom- 
panied them  ;  if  we  allow  that  there 
is  any  connection  between  motion  and 
sound.  At  the  same  time,  it  should  be 
observed  that  though  the  music  of  the 
chorus  and  that  of  the  dancers  corre- 
sponded, constant  practice  in  these 
favourite  amusements  of  our  friends 
seems  to  have  a  great  share  in  effect- 
ing the  exact  time  they  keep  in  their 
performances.  For  we  observed,  that  if 
any  of  them  happened  accidentally  to 
be  interrupted,  they  never  found  the 
smallest  difficulty  in  recovering  the 
proper  place  of  the  dance  or  song. 
And  their  perfect  discipline  was  in  no 
instance  more  remarkable  than  in  the 
sudden  transitions  they  so  dexterously 
made  from  the  ruder  exertions,  and 
harsh  sounds,  to  the  softest  arts  and 
gentlest  movements. 

The  place  where  the  dances  were 
performed  was  an  open  space  amongst 
the  trees,  just  by  the  sea,  with  lights 
at  small  intervals  placed  round  the 
inside  of  the  circle.  The  concourse 
of  people  was  pretty  large,  though  not 
equal  to  the  number  assembled  in  the 
forenoon  when  the  marines  exercised. 
At  that  time,  some  of  our  gentlemen 
guessed  there  might  be  present  about 
5000  persons;  others  thought  there 
were  more  ;  but  they  who  reckoned 
that  there  were  fewer  probably  came 
nearer  to  the  truth. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

CURIOSITY  on  both  sides  being  now 
sufficiently  gratified  by  the  exhibition 
of  the  various  entertainments  I  have 
described,  I  began  to  have  time  to 
look  about  me.  Accordingly,  next 
day  [May  21st],  I  took  a  walk  into 
the  Island  of  Lefooga,  of  which  I  was 
desirous  to  obtain  some  knowledge. 
I  found  it  to  be  in  some  respects  supe- 
rior to  Annamooka.  The  plantations 
were  both  more  numerous  and  more 
extensive.  In  many  places,  indeed, 
towards  the  sea,  especially  on  the  east 
side,  the  country  is  still  waste,  owing 
perhaps  to  the  sandy  soil ;  as  it  i 


OF  LEFOOGA. 


119 


much  lower  than  Annamooka  and  its 
surrounding  isles.  But  towards  the 
middle  of  the  island  the  soil  is  better, 
and  the  marks  of  considerable  popu- 
lation and  of  improved  cultivation 
were  very  conspicuous.  For  we  met 
here  with  very  large  plantations,  en- 
closed in  such  a  manner,  that  the 
fences  running  parallel  to  each  other, 
form  fine  spacious  public  roads,  that 
would  appear  ornamental  in  countries 
where  rural  conveniences  have  been 
carried  to  the  greatest  perfection.  "We 
observed  large  spots  covered  with  the 
paper  mulberry -trees ;  and  the  plan- 
tations in  general  were  well  stocked 
with  such  roots  and  fruits  as  are  the 
natural  produce  of  the  island.  To 
these  I  made  some  addition,  by  sow- 
ing the  seeds  of  Indian  corn,  melons, 
pumpkins,  and  the  like.  At  one 
place  was  a  house,  four  or  five  times 
as  large  as  those  of  the  common  sort, 
with  a  large  area  of  grass  before  it ; 
and  I  take  it  for  granted  the  people 
resort  thither  on  certain  public  occa- 
sions. Near  the  landing-place  we 
saw  a  mount,  two  or  three  feet  high, 
covered  with  gravel ;  and  on  it  stood 
four  or  five  small  huts,  in  which,  the 
natives  told  us,  the  bodies  of  some  of 
their  principal  people  had  been  in- 
terred. 

In  my  walk  on  the  25th  I  happened 
to  step  into  a  house  where  a  woman 
was  dressing  the  eyes  of  a  young  child, 
who  seemed  blind ;  the  eyes  being 
much  inflamed,  and  a  thin  film  spread 
over  them.  The  instruments  she  used 
were  two  slender  wooden  probes,  with 
which  she  had  brushed  the  eyes  so  as 
to  make  them  bleed.  It  seems  worth 
mentioning,  that  the  natives  of  these 
islands  should  attempt  an  operation 
of  this  sort ;  though  I  entered  the 
house  too  late  to  describe  exactly 
how  this  female  oculist  employed  the 
wretched  tools  she  had  to  work  with. 
I  was  fortunate  enough  to  see  a  dif- 
ferent operation  going  on  in  the  same 
house,  of  which  I  can  give  a  tolerable 
account.  I  found  there  another  woman 
shaving  a  child's  head  with  a  shark's 
tooth  stuck  into  the  end  of  a  piece  of 
stick.  I  observed  that  she  first  wet 
the  hair  with  a  rag  dipped  in  water, 


120 

applying  her  instrument  to  that  part 
which  she  had  previously  soaked. 
The  operation  seemed  to  give  no  pain 
to  the  child  ;  although  the  hair  was 
taken  off  as  close  as  if  one  of  our  razors 
had  been  employed.  Encouraged  by 
what  I  now  saw,  I  soon  after  tried  one 
of  these  singular  instruments  upon 
myself,  and  found  it  to  be  an  excellent 
succedaneum.  However,  the  men  of 
these  islands  have  recourse  to  another 
contrivance  when  they  shave  their 
beards.  The  operation  is  performed 
with  two  shells  ;  one  of  which  they 


place  under  a  small  part  of  the  beard, 
and  with  the  other,  applied  above, 
they  scrape  that  part  off.  In  this 
manner  they  are  able  to  shave  very 
close.  The  process  is,  indeed,  rather 
tedious,  but  not  painful ;  and  there 
are  men  amongst  them  who  seem  to 
profess  this  trade.  It  was  as  common, 
while  we  were  here,  to  see  our  sailors 
go  ashore  to  have  their  beards  scraped 
off,  after  the  fashion  of  Hapaee,  as  it 
was  to  see  their  chiefs  come  on  board 
to  be  shaved  by  our  barbers. 

Finding  that  little  or  nothing  of 
the  produce  of  the  island  was  now 
brought  to  the  ships,  I  resolved  to 
change  our  station,  and  to  await  Fee- 
nou's  return  from  Vavaoo  in  some 
other  convenient  anchoring -place, 
where  refreshments  might  still  be  met 
with.  Accordingly,  in  the  forenoon  of 
the  26th  we  got  under  sail,  and  stood 
to  the  southward  along  the  reef  of  the 
island.  At  half-past  two  in  the  after- 
noon, I  hauled  into  a  bay  that  lies 
between  the  south  end  of  Lefooga  and 
the  north  end  of  Hoolaiva,  and  there 
anchored  in  seventeen  fathoms  water. 
The  Discovery  did  not  get  to  an  an- 
chor till  sunset.  She  had  touched 
upon  one  of  the  shoals,  but  backed  off 
again  without  receiving  any  damage. 
The  place  where  we  now  anchored  is 
much  better  sheltered  than  that  which 
we  had  lately  come  from ;  but  between 
the  two  is  another  anchoring  station 
much  better  than  either.  Lefooga 
and  Hoolaiva  are  divided  from  each 
other  by  a  reef  of  coral  rocks,  which 
is  dry  at  low  water  ;  so  that  one  may 
walk  at  that  time  from  the  one  to  tho 
other  without  wetting  a  foot.  Some 


COOK'S  TOYAGES.      [VOY.III.B.II.CH.YI. 

of  our  gentlemen,  who  landed  in  the 
latter  island,  did  not  find  the  least 
mark  of  cultivation  or  habitation  upon 
it ;  except  a  single  hut,  the  residen.ce 
of  a  man  employed  to  catch  fish  and 
turtle. 

At  daybreak  on  the  27th,  I  made 
the  signal  to  weigh ;  and  as  I  in- 
tended to  attempt  a  passage  to  Anna- 
mooka  in  my  way  to  Tongataboo  by 
the  south-west  amongst  the  interven- 
ing islands,  I  sent  the  master  in  a 
boat  to  sound  before  the  ships.  But 
before  we  could  get  under  sail,  the 
wind  became  unsettled  ;  which  made 
it  unsafe  to  attempt  a  passage  this 
way  till  we  were  better  acquainted 
with  it.  I  therefore  lay  fast,  and 
made  the  signal  for  the  master  to  re- 
turn, and  afterward  sent  him  and  the 
master  of  the  Discovery,  each  in  a 
boat,  with  instructions  to  examine 
the  channels  as  far  as  they  could, 
allowing  themselves  time  to  get  back 
to  the  ships  before  the  close  of  the 
day.1 

At  daybreak  on  the  29th,  I  weighed 
with  a  fine  breeze  at  ENE.,  and  stood 
to  the  westward,  with  a  view  to  re- 
turn to  Annamooka  by  the  track  we 
had  already  experienced.  We  were 
followed  by  several  sailing  canoes,  in 
one  of  which  was  the  King.  As  soon 
as  he  got  on  board  the  Resolution,  he 
inquired  for  his  brother  and  the  others 
who  had  remained  with  us  all  night. 
It  now  appeared  that  they  had  stayed 
without  his  leave,  for  he  gave  them 
in  a  very  few  words  such  a  reprimand 
as  brought  tears  from  their  eyes ;  and 
yet  they  were  men  not  less  than  thirty 
years  of  age.  He  was,  however,  soon 


1  While  lying  here  they  received  a 
visit  from  Poulaho,  the  real  king  of 
Tongataboo,  who  brought  two  fat  hogs 
on  board  as  a  present,  but  which  are 
described  as  not  so  fat  as  himself. 
He  endeavoured  to  convince  them 
that  he  and  not  Feenou  was  the  king. 
Early  in  the  morning  of  the  last  day 
of  their  stay,  he  brought  a  present  to 
Captain  Cook  of  one  of  their  native 
caps,  which  was  covered  with  the  tail 
feathers  of  tropic  birds,  and  highly 
prized  even  amongst  themselves. 


JtTNE  1777.] 


ISLAND  OF  KOTOO. 


12] 


reconciled  to  their  making  a  longer 
Stay ;  for  on  quitting  us  lie  left  his 
brother  and  five  of  his  attendants  on 
board.  We  had  also  the  company  of 
a  chief,  just  then  arrived  from  Tonga- 
taboo,  whose  name  was  Tooboueitoa. 
The  moment  he  arrived  he  sent  his 
canoe  away,  and  declared  that  he  and 
five  more  who  came  with  him  would 
sleep  on  board ;  so  that  I  had  now  my 
cabin  filled  with  visitors.  This,  in- 
deed, was  some  inconvenience  ;  but  I 
bore  with  it  more  willingly,  as  they 
brought  plenty  of  pro  visions  with  them 
as  presents  to  me  ;  for  which  they 
always  had  suitable  returns.  About 
1  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  easterly 
wind  was  succeeded  by  a  fresh  breeze 
at  SSE.  Our  course  now  being  SS  W. , 
or  more  southerly,  we  were  obliged  to 

Ely  to  windward,  and  did  but  just 
itch  the  north  side  of  Footooha  by 
8  o'clock,  where  we  spent  the  night, 
making  short  boards.  The  next  morn- 
ing we  plied  up  to  Lofanga,  where, 
according  to  the  information  of  oar 
friends,  there  was  anchorage.  It  was 
1  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  before  we 
got  soundings,  under  the  lee  or  north- 
west side,  in  forty  fathoms  water,  near 
half-a-mile  from  the  shore ;  but  the 
bank  was  steep  and  the  bottom  rocky, 
and  a  chain  of  breakers  lay  to  leeward. 
All  these  circumstances  being  against 
us,  I  stretched  away  for  Kotoo,  with 
the  expectation  of  finding  better  an- 
choring ground  under  that  island. 
But  so  much  time  had  been  spent  in 
plying  up  to  Lofanga,  that  it  was  dark 
before  we  reached  the  other  ;  and, 
finding  no  place  to  anchor  in,  the 
night  was  spent  as  the  preceding  one. 
At  daybreak  on  the  31st,  I  stood  for 
the  channel  which  is  between  Kotoo 
and  the  reef  of  rocks  that  lies  to  the 
westward  of  it ;  but  on  drawing  near 
I  found  the  wind  too  scant  to  lead  us 
through.  I  therefore  bore  up  on  the 
outside  of  the  reef,  and  stretched  to 
the  SW.  till  near  noon,  when,  per- 
ceiving that  we  made  no  progress  to 
windward,  and  being  apprehensive  of 
losing  the  islands  with  so  many  of 
the  natives  on  board,  I  tacked  and 
stood  back,  intending  to  wait  till 
some  more  favourable  opportunity. 


We  did  but  just  fetch  in  with  Foo- 
tooha, between  which  and  Kotoo  wo 
spent  the  night  undor  reefed  topsails 
and  foresail.  The  wind  blew  fresh, 
and  by  squalls,  with  rain  ;  and  we 
were  not  without  apprehensions  of 
danger.  I  kept  the  deck  till  mid- 
night, when  I  left  it  to  the  master, 
with  such  directions  as  I  thought 
would  keep  the  ships  clear  of  the 
shoals  and  rocks  that  lay  round  us. 
But  after  making  a  trip  to  the  north, 
and  standing  back  again  to  the  south, 
our  ship,  by  a  small  shift  of  the  wind, 
fetched  farther  to  the  windward  than 
was  expected.  By  this  means  she 
was  very  near  running  full  upon  a 
low  sandy  isle,  called  Pootoo  Pootooa, 
surrounded  with  breakers.  It  hap- 
pened very  fortunately  that  the  people 
had  just  been  ordered  upon  the  deck, 
to  put  the  ship  about,  and  the  most 
of  them  were  at  their  stations,  so  that 
the  necessary  movements  were  not 
only  executed  with  judgment,  but 
also  with  alertness,  and  this  alone 
saved  us  from  destruction.  The  Dis- 
covery, being  astern,  was  out  of  danger. 
Such  hazardous  situations  are  the  un- 
avoidable companions  of  the  man  who 
goes  upon  a  voyage  of  discovery. 

This  circumstance  frightened  our 
passengers  so  much,  that  they  ex- 
pressed a  strong  desire  to  get  ashore. 
Accordingly,  as  soon  as  daylight  re- 
turned, I  hoisted  out  a  boat,  and 
ordered  the  officer  who  commanded 
her,  after  landing  them  at  Kotoo,  to 
sound  along  the  reef  that  spits  off 
from  that  island,  for  anchorage.  For 
I  was  full  as  much  tired  as  they  could 
be  with  beating  about  amongst  the 
surrounding  isles  and  shoals,  and  de- 
termined to  get  to  an  anchor  some- 
where or  other  if  possible.  While 
the  boat  was  absent,  we  attempted  to 
turn  the  ships  through  the  channel 
between  the  sandy  isle  and  the  reef 
of  Kotoo,  in  expectation  of  finding  a 
moderate  depth  of  water  behind  them 
to  anchor  in.  But  meeting  with  a 
tide  or  current  against  us,  we  were 
obliged  to  desist,  and  anchor  in  fifty 
fathoms  water,  with  the  sandy  isle 
bearing  E.  by  N.,  one  mile  distant. 
We  lay  here  till  the  4th.  While  in 


122 

this  station  we  were  several  times 
visited  by  the  King,  by  Tooboueitoa, 
and  by  people  from  the  neighbour- 
ing islands,  who  came  off  to  trade 
with  us,  though  the  wind  blew  very 
fresh  most  of  the  time.  The  master 
was  now  sent  to  sound  the  channels 
between  the  islands  that  lie  to  the 
eastward  ;  and  I  landed  on  Kotoo,  to 
examine  it,  in  the  forenoon  of  the  2d 
[of  June].  This  island  is  scarcely  ac- 
cessible by  boats,  on  account  of  coral 
reefs  that  surround  it.  It  is  not  more 
than  a  mile  and  a  half  or  two  miles 
long,  and  not  so  broad.  The  NW. 
end  of  it  is  low,  like  the  islands  of 
Hapaee  ;  but  it  rises  suddenly  in  the 
middle,  and  terminates  in  reddish 
clayey  cliffs,  at  the  SE.  end,  about 
thirty  feet  high.  The  soil  in  that 
quarter  is  of  the  same  sort  as  in  the 
cliffs  ;  but  in  the  other  parts  it  is  a 
loose,  black  mould.  It  produces  the 
same  fruits  and  roots  whicli  we  found 
at  the  other  islands,  is  tolerably  cul- 
tivated, but  thinly  inhabited.  While 
I  was  walking  all  over  it,  our  people 
were  employed  in  cutting  some  grass 
for  the  cattle  ;  and  we  planted  some 
melon  seeds,  with  which  the  natives 
seemed  much  pleased,  and  enclosed 
them  with  branches.  On  our  return 
to  the  boat,  we  passed  by  two  or  three 
ponds  of  dirty  water,  which  was  more 
or  less  brackish  in  each  of  them  ;  and 
saw  one  of  their  burying-places,  which 
was  much  neater  than  those  that  were 
met  with  at  Hapaee. 

On  the  4th,  at  seven  in  the  morn- 
ing, we  weighed,  and,  with  a  fresh 
gale  at  ESE.  stood  away  for  Anna- 
mooka,  where  we  anchored  next 
morning  nearly  in  the  same  station 
which  we  had  so  lately  occupied.  I 
went  on  shore  soon  after,  and  found 
the  inhabitants  very  busy  in  their 
plantations,  digging  up  yams  to  bring 
to  market ;  and  in  the  course  of  the 
day  about  200  of  them  had  assembled 
on  the  beach,  and  traded  with  as 
much  eagerness  as  during  our  late 
visit.  Their  stock  appeared  to  have 
been  recruited  much,  though  we  had 
returned  so  soon ;  but  instead  of  bread- 
fiuit,  which  was  the  only  article  we 
oould  purchase  on  our  first  arrival, 


COOK'S  VOYAGES. 


[VoY.m.B.IT.CH.VI. 

nothing  was  to  be  seen  now  but  yams 
and  a  few  plantains.  This  shows  the 
quick  succession  of  the  seasons,  at 
least  of  the  different  vegetables  pro- 
duced here  at  the  several  times  of  the 
year.  It  appeared  also  that  they  had 
been  very  busy  while  we  were  absent 
in  cultivating ;  for  we  now  saw  several 
large  plantain  fields  in  places  which 
we  had  so  lately  seen  lying  waste. 
The  yams  were  now  in  the  greatest 
perfection  ;  and  we  procured  a  good 
quantity  in  exchanges  for  pieces  of 
iron.  These  people,  in  the  absence 
of  Toobou,  whom  we  left  behind  us 
at  Kotoo  with  Poulaho  and  other 
chiefs,  seemed  to  be  uuder  little  sub- 
ordination. For  we  could  not  per- 
ceive this  day  that  one  man  assumed 
more  authority  than  another.  Before 
I  returned  on  board,  I  visited  the 
several  places  where  I  had  sown  melon 
seeds,  and  had  the  mortification  to 
find  that  most  of  them  were  destroyed 
by  a  small  ant ;  but  some  pine-apple 
plants,  which  I  had  also  left,  were  in 
a  thriving  state. 

About  noon  next  day  Feenou  ar« 
rived  from  Vavaoo.  He  told  us  that 
several  canoes,  laden  with  hogs  and 
other  provisions,  which  had  sailed  with 
him  from  that  island,  had  been  lost, 
owing  to  the  late  blowing  weather; 
and  that  everybody  on  board  them 
had  perished.  This  melancholy  tale 
did  not  seem  to  affect  any  of  his  coun- 
trymen who  heard  it ;  and  as  to  our- 
selves, we  were  by  this  time  too  well 
acquainted  with  his  character  to  give 
much  credit  to  such  a  story.  The 
truth  probably  was,  that  he  had  not 
been  able  to  procure  at  Vavaoo  the 
supplies  which  he  expected,  or,  if  he 
got  any  there,  that  he  had  left  them 
at  Hap*aee,  which  lay  in  his  way  back, 
and  where  he  could  not  but  receive 
intelligence  that  Poulaho  had  been 
with  us,  who  therefore,  he  knew, 
would  as  his  superior  have  all  the 
merit  and  reward  of  procuring  them, 
though  he  had  not  any  share  of  the 
trouble.  The  invention  of  this  loss 
at  sea  was,  however,  well  imagined. 
For  there  had  lately  been  very  blow- 
ing weather,  insomuch  that  the  King 
and  other  chiefs,  who  had  followed  u« 


JUNE  1777.] 


ARRIVAL  AT  TONGATABOO. 


123 


from  Hapaee  to  Kotoo,  had  been  left 
there,  not  caring  to  venture  to  sea 
when  we  did;  but  desired  I  might 
wait  for  them  at  Annamooka,  which 
was  the  reason  of  my  anchoring  there 
this  second  time,  and  of  my  not  pro- 
ceeding directly  to  Tongataboo. 

The  following  morning,  Poulaho 
and  the  other  chiefs  who  had  been 
windbound  with  him  arrived.  I  hap- 
pened, at  this  time  to  be  ashore  in 
company  with  Feenou,  who  now 
seemed  to  be  sensible  of  the  impro- 
priety of  his  conduct  in  asstuning  a 
character  that  did  not  belong  to  him. 
For  he  not  only  acknowledged  Poulaho 
to  be  King  of  Tongataboo  and  the 
other  isles,  but  affected  to  insist  much 
on  it,  which  no  doubt  was  with  a  view 
to  make  amends  for  his  former  pre- 
sumption. I  left  him  to  visit  this 
greater  man,  whom  I  found  sitting 
with  a  few  people  before  him.  But, 
every  one  hastening  to  pay  court  to 
him,  the  circle  increased  pretty  fast. 
I  was  very  desirous  of  observing  Fee- 
nou's  behaviour  on  this  occasion ;  and 
had  the  most  convincing  proof  of  his 
inferiority,  for  he  placed  himself 
amongst  the  rest  that  sat  before  Pou- 
laho as  attendants  on  his  majesty. 
He  seemed  at  first  rather  abashed,  as 
some  of  us  were  present  who  had  been 
used  to  see  him  act  a  different  part ; 
but  he  soon  recovered  himself.  Some 
little  conversation  passed  between 
these  two  chiefs,  which  none  of  us 
understood ;  nor  were  we  satisfied 
with  Omai's  interpretation  of  it.  We 
were,  however,  by  this  time  sufficiently 
undeceived  as  to  Feenou's  rank.  Both 
he  and  Poulaho  went  on  board  with 
me  to  dinner  ;  but  only  the  latter  sat 
at  table.  Feenou,  having  made  his 
obeisance  in  the  usual  way,  saluting 
his  sovereign's  foot  with  his  head  and 
hands,  retired  out  of  the  cabin.  The 
King  had  before  told  us  that  this 
would  happen  ;  and  it  now  appeared 
that  Feenou  could  not  even  eat  nor 
drink  in  his  royal  presence. 

At  8  o'clock  next  morning  we 
weighed  and  steered  for  Tongataboo, 
having  a  gentle  breeze  at  NE.  About 
fourteen  or  fifteen  sailing  vessels  be- 
longing to  the  natives  set  out  with- 


out us  ;  but  every  one  of  them  outrun 
the  ships  considerably.  Feenou  was 
to  have  taken  his  passage  in  the 
Resolution,  but  preferred  his  own 
canoe,  and  put  two  men  on  board  to 
conduct  us  to  the  best  anchorage. 
We  steered  S.  by  W.  by  compass. 
We  continued  the  same  course  till 
2  o'clock  next  morning,  when,  seeing 
some  lights  ahead,  and  not  knowing 
whether  they  were  on  shore  or  on 
board  the  canoes,  we  hauled  the 
wind,  and  made  a  short  trip  each 
way  till  daybreak.  We  then  re- 
sumed our  course  to  the  S.  by  W. ; 
and,  presently  after,  saw  several 
small  islands  before  us,  and  Eooa  and 
Tongataboo  beyond  them.  We  had 
at  this  time  twenty-five  fathoms 
water,  over  a  bottom  of  broken  coral 
and  sand.  The  depth  gradually  de- 
creased as  we  drew  near  the  isles 
above  mentioned,  which  lie  ranged 
along  the  NE.  side  of  Tongataboo. 
By  the  direction  of  our  pilots  we 
steered  for  the  middle  of  it,  and  for 
the  widest  space  between  the  small 
isles  which  we  were  to  pass,  having 
our  boats  ahead  employed  in  sound- 
ing. We  were,  insensibly,  drawn 
upon  a  large  flat,  upon  which  lay  in- 
numerable coral  rocks,  of  different 
depths  below  the  surface  of  the  water. 
Notwithstanding  all  our  care  and  at- 
tention to  keep  the  ship  clear  of  them, 
we  could  not  prevent  her  from  striking 
on  one  of  these  rocks.  Nor  did  the 
Discoveiy,  though  behind  us,  escape 
any  better.  Fortunately  neither  of 
the  ships  stuck  fast,  nor  received  any 
damage.  We  could  not  get  back  with- 
out increasing  the  danger,  as  we  had 
come  in  almost  before  the  wind.  Nor 
could  we  cast  anchor  but  with  the  cer- 
tainty of  having  our  cables  instantly 
cut  ill  two  by  the  rocks.  We  had  no 
other  resource  but  to  proceed.  To 
this,  indeed,  we  were  encouraged,  not 
only  by  being  told,  but  by  seeing, 
that  there  was  deeper  water  between 
us  and  the  shore.  However,  that  we 
might  be  better  informed,  the  mo- 
ment we  found  a  spot  where  we  could 
drop  the  anchor  clear  of  rocks,  we 
came  to,  and  sent  the  masters,  with 
the  boata,  to  sound. 


124 

Soon  after  we  had  anchored,  which 
was  about  noon,  several  of  the  in- 
habitants of  Tongataboo  came  off  in 
their  canoes  to  the  ships.  These,  as 
well  as  our  pilots,  assured  us  that  we 
should  find  deep  water  farther  in, 
and  a  bottom  free  from  rocks.  They 
were  not  mistaken,  for  about  4  o'clock 
the  boats  made  the  signal  for  having 
found  good  anchorage.  Upon  this 
we  weighed  and  stood  in  till  dark, 
and  then  anchored  in  nine  fathoms, 
having  a  fine,  clear,  sandy  bottom. 
During  the  night  we  had  some 
showers  of  rain  ;  but  towards  the 
morning  the  wind  shifted  to  the  S. 
and  SE.,  and  brought  on  fair  weather. 
At  daybreak  we  weighed,  and,  work- 
ing in  to  the  shore,  met  with  no  ob- 
structions but  such  as  were  visible 
and  easily  avoided.  While  we  were 
plying  up  to  the  harbour,  to  which 


the  natives  directed  us,  the  King  kept 
sailing  round  us  in  his  canoe.  There 
were  at  the  same  time  a  great  many 
small  canoes  about  the  ships.  Two 
of  these,  which  could  not  get  out  of 
the  way  of  his  royal  vessel,  he  run 
quite  over,  with  as  little  concern  as  if 
they  had  been  bits  of  wood.  Amongst 
many  others  who  came  on  board  the 
Resolution  was  Otago,  who  had  been 
so  useful  to  me  when  I  visited  Ton- 
gataboo  during  my  last  voyage  ;  and 
one  Toobou,  who  at  that  time  had 
attached  himself  to  Captain  Furneaux. 
Each  of  them  brought  a  hog  and  some 
yams  as  a  testimony  of  his  friendship ; 
and  I  was  not  wanting  on  my  part  in 
making  a  suitable  return.  At  length, 
about  two  in  the  afternoon,  we  ar- 
rived at  our  intended  station.  It  was 
a  very  snug  place,  formed  by  the  shore 
of  Tongataboo  on  the  SE.,  and  two 
small  islands  on  the  E.  and  NE. 
Here  we  anchored  in  ten  fathoms 
water,  over  a  bottom  of  oozy  sand, 
distant  from  the  shore  one-third  of  a 
mile. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

SOON  after  we  had  anchored,  having 
first  dined,  I  landed,  accompanied  by 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.      [VoY.Itt.B.II.CH.VII. 

Omai  and  some  of  the  officers.  We 
found  the  King  waiting  for  us  upon 
the  beach.  He  immediately  conducted 
us  to  a  small  neat  house,  situated 
a  little  within  the  skirts  of  the  woods, 
with  a  fine  large  area  before  it.  This 
house,  he  told  me,  was  at  my  service 
during  our  stay  at  the  island,  and  a 
better  situation  we  could  not  wish 
for. 

We  had  not  been  long  in  the  house 
before  a  pretty  large  circle  of  the 
natives  were  assembled  before  us  and 
seated  upon  the  area.  A  root  of  the 
"  kava  "  plant  being  brought  and  laid 
down  before  the  King,  he  ordered  it 
to  be  split  into  pieces  and  distributed 
to  several  people  of  both  sexes,  who 
began  the  operation  of  chewing  it; 
and  a  bowl  of  their  favourite  liquor 
was  soon  prepared.  In  the  meantime 
a  baked  hog,  and  two  baskets  of  baked 
yams,  were  produced,  and  afterward 
divided  into  ten  portions.  These  por- 
tions were  then  given  to  certain  people 
present,  but  how  many  were  to  share 
in  each  I  could  not  tell.  One  of  them, 
I  observed,  was  bestowed  upon  the 
King's  brother;  and  one  remained 
undisposed  of,  which  I  judged  was 
for  the  King  himself,  as  it  was  a 
choice  bit.  The  liquor  was  next 
served  out,  but  Poulaho  seemed  to 
give  no  directions  about  it.  The  first 
cup  was  brought  to  him,  which  he 
ordered  to  be  given  to  one  who  sat 
near  him.  The  second  was  also 


brought  to  him,  and  this  he  kept. 
The  third  was  given  to  me,  but  their 
manner  of  brewing  having  quenched 
my  thirst,  it  became  Omai's  property. 
The  rest  of  the  liquor  was  distributed 
to  different  people  by  direction  of  the 
man  who  had  the  management  of  it. 
One  of  the  cups  being  carried  to  the 
King's  brother,  he  retired  with  this 
and  with  his  mess  of  victuals.  Some 
others  also  quitted  the  circle  with 
their  portions;  and  the  reason  was, 
they  could  neither  eat  nor  drink  in 
the  royal  presence;  but  there  were 
others  present  of  a  much  inferior  rank 
of  both  sexes,  who  did  both.  Soon 
after,  most  of  them  withdrew,  carry- 
ing  with  them  what  they  had  not 
eaten  of  their  share  of  the  feast.  I 


JUNE  1777.]    FRIENDLY  RECEPTION  AT  TONGATABOQ. 


observed  that  not  a  fourth  part  of  the 
company  had  tasted  either  the  victuals 
or  the  drink — those  who  partook  of 
the  former  I  supposed  to  he  of  the 
King's  household.  The  servants,  who 
distributed  the  baked  meat  and  the 
"kava,"  always  delivered  it  out  of 
their  hand  sitting,  not  only  to  the 
King,  but  to  every  other  person.  It 
is  worthy  of  remark,  though  this  was 
the  first  time  of  our  landing,  and  a 
great  many  people  were  present  who 
had  never  seen  us  before,  yet  no  one 
was  troublesome ;  but  the  greatest 
good  order  was  preserved  throughout 
the  whole  assembly. 

Before  I  returned  on  board  I  went 
in  search  of  a  watering-J>iace,  and  was 
conducted  to  some  ponds,  or,  rather, 
holes,  containing  fresh  water,  as  they 
were  pleased  to  call  it.  The  contents 
of  one  of  these,  indeed,  were  tolerable ; 
but  it  was  at  some  distance  inland, 
and  the  supply  to  be  got  from  it  was 
rery  inconsiderable.  Being  informed 
that  the  little  inland  of  Pangimodoo, 
near  which  the  ships  lay,  could  better 
furnish  this  necessary  article,  I  went 
over  to  it  next  morning,  and  was  so 
fortunate  as  to  find  there  a  small  pool 
that  had  rather  fresher  water  than  any 
we  had  met  with  amongst  these  islands. 
The  pool  being  very  dirty,  I  ordered 
it  to  be  cleaned,  and  here  it  was  that 
we  watered  the  ships.  As  I  intended 
to  make  some  stay  at  Tongataboo,  we 
pitched  a  tent  in  the  forenoon  just  by 
the  house  which  Poulaho  had  assigned 
for  our  use.  The  horses,  cattle,  and 
sheep,  were  afterwards  landed,  and  a 
party  of  marines,  with  their  officer, 
stationed  there  as  a  guard.  The  ob- 
servatory was  then  set  up  at  a  small 
distance  from  the  other  tent,  and  Mr 
King  resided  on  shore  to  attend  the 
observations,  and  to  superintend  the 
several  operations  necessary  to  be  con- 
ducted there ;  for  the  sails  were  car- 
ried thither  to  be  repaired;  a  party 
was  employed  in  cutting  wood  for 
fuel  and  plank  for  the  use  of  the  ships ; 
and  the  gunners  of  both  were  ordered 
to  remain  upon  the  spot  to  conduct 
the  traffic  with  the  natives,  who 
thronged  from  every  part  of  the  island 
with  hogs,  yams,  cocoa-nuts,  and 


125 

other  articles  of  their  produce.  In  a 
short  time  our  land-post  was  like  a 
fair,  and  the  ships  were  so  crowded 
with  visitors  that  we  had  hardly  room 
to  stir  upon  the  decks.  [On  hearing 
that  there  were  other  great  men  on 
the  island  whom  they  had  not  seen, 
with  some  little  difficulty  they  were 
introduced  to  Mareewagee  and  old 
Toobou,  whom  they  entertained  for 
an  hour  with  a  performance  on  two 
French  horns  and  a  drum.  This  visit 
old  Toobou  returned  next  morning 
by  coming  on  board  ship,  when  he 
received  a  considerable  present  from 
Captain  Clerke.] 

Toward  noon  [on  the  4th]  Poulaho 
returned  from  the  place  where  we  had 
left  him  two  days  before,  and  brought 
with  him  his  son,  a  youth  about 
twelve  years  of  age.  I  had  his  com- 
pany at  dinner,  but  the  son,  though 
present,  was  not  allowed  to  sit  down 
with  him.  It  was  very  convenient  to 
have  him  for  my  guest ;  for  when  he 
was  present,  which  was  generally  the 
case  while  we  stayed  here,  every  other 
native  was  excluded  from  the  table, 
and  but  few  of  them  would  remain  in 
the  cabin.  Whereas,  if  by  chance  it 
happened  that  neither  he  nor  Feenou 
was  on  board,  the  inferior  chiefs 
would  be  very  importunate  to  be  of 
our  dining  party,  or  to  be  admitted 
into  the  cabin  at  that  time ;  and  then 
we  were  so  crowded  that  we  could  not 
sit  down  to  a  meal  with  any  satisfac- 
tion. The  King  was  very  soon  recon- 
ciled to  our  manner  of  cookery.  But 
still  I  believe  he  dined  thus  frequently 
with  me  more  for  the  sake  of  what  we 
gave  him  to  drink  than  for  what  we 
set  before  him  to  eat.  For  he  had 
taken  a  liking  to  our  wine,  could 
empty  his  bottle  as  well  as  most  men, 
and  was  as  cheerful  over  it.  He  now 
fixed  his  residence  at  the  house,  or 
' '  malaee, "  by  our  tent ;  and  there  he 
entertained  our  people  this  evening 
with  a  dance.  To  the  surprise  of 
everybody  the  unwieldy  Poulaho  en- 
deavoured to  vie  with  others  in  that 
active  amusement. 

In  the  morning  oi  the  15th  I  re- 
ceived a  message  from  old  Toobou 
that  he  wanted  to  see  me  ashore. 


126 

Accordingly  Omai  and  I  went  to  wait 
upon  him.  We  found  him,  like  an 
ancient  patriarch,  seated  under  the 
shade  of  a  tree,  with  a  large  piece  of 
a  cloth  made  in  the  island  spread  out 
at  full  length  before  him,  and  a  num- 
ber of  respectable-looking  people  sit- 
ting roiind  it.  He  desired  us  to  place 
ourselves  by  him,  and  then  he  told 
Omai  that  the  cloth,  together  with  a 
piece  of  red  feathers  and  about  a  dozen 
cocoa-nuts,  were  his  present  to  me. 
I  thanked  him  for  the  favour,  and 
desired  he  would  go  on  board  with 
me,  as  I  had  nothing  on  shore  to  give 
him  in  return.  Omai  now  left  me, 
being  sent  for  by  Poulaho ;  and  soon 
after  Feenou  came  and  acquainted  me 
that  young  Fatrafaihe,  Poulaho 's  son, 
desired  to  see  me.  I  obeyed  the  sum- 
mons, and  found  the  prince  and  Omai 
sitting  under  a  large  canopy  of  the 
finer  sort  of  cloth,  with  a  piece  of  the 
coarser  sort  spread  under  them  and 
before  them  that  was  seventy-six 
yards  long  and  seven  and  a  half  broad. 
On  one  side  was  a  large  old  boar,  and 
on  the  other  side  a  heap  of  cocoa-nuts. 
A  number  of  people  were  seated  round 
the  cloth,  and  amongst  them  I  ob- 
served Mareewagee  and  others  of  the 
first  rank.  I  was  desired  to  sit  down 
by  the  prince,  and  then  Omai  informed 
me  that'he  had  been  instructed  by  the 
King  to  tell  me  that,  as  he  and  I 
were  friends,  he  hoped  his  son  might 
be  joined  in  this  friendship,  and  that, 
as  a  token  of  my  consent,  I  would 
accept  of  his  present.  I  very  readily 
agreed  to  the  proposal ;  and  it  being 
now  dinner-time,  I  invited  them  afl 
on  board. 

Accordingly  the  young  prince,  Ma- 
reewagee, old  Toobou,  three  or  four 
inferior  chiefs,  and  two  respectable 
old  ladies  of  the  first  rank,  accom- 
panied me.  Mareewagee  was  dressed 
in  a  new  piece  of  cloth,  on  the  skirts 
of  which  were  fixed  six  pretty  large 
patches  of  red  feathers.  This  dress 
seemed  to  have  been  made  on  purpose 
for  this  visit,  for  as  soon  as  he  got  on 
board  he  put  it  off  and  presented  it  to 
me,  having,  I  guess,  heard  that  it 
would  be  acceptable  on  account  of  the 
feathers.  Every  one  of  my  visitors 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.      [VoY.  III.  B.  II.  CH.  VII. 

received  from  me  such  presents  as  I 
had  reason  to  believe  they  were  highly 
satisfied  with.  When  dinner  came 
upon  table,  not  one  of  them  would  sit 
down,  or  eat  a  bit  of  anything  that 
was  served  up.  On  expressing  my 
surprise  at  this,  they  were  all  * '  taboo, " 
as  they  said,  which  word  has  a  very 
comprehensive  meaning,  but  in  gene- 
ral signifies  that  a  thing  is  forbidden. 
Why  they  were  laid  under  such  re- 
straints at  present  was  not  explained. 
Dinner  being  over,  and  having  grati- 
fied their  curiosity  by  showing  to 
them  every  part  of  the  ship,  I  then 
conducted  them  ashore.  As  soon  as 
the  boat  reached  the  beach,  Feenou 
and  some  others  instantly  stepped  out 
Young  Fatrafaihe  following  them,  was 
called  back  by  Mareewagee,  who  now 
paid  the  heir-apparent  the  same  obeis- 
ance, and  in  the  same  manner,  that  I 
had  seen  it  paid  to  the  King.  And 
when  old  Toobou  and  one  of  the  old 
ladies  had  shown  him  the  same  marks 
of  respect,  he  was  suffered  to  land. 
This  ceremony  being  over,  the  old 
people  stepped  from  my  boat  into  a 
canoe  that  was  waiting  to  carry  them 
to  their  place  of  abode. 

I  was  not  sorry  to  be  present  on 
this  occasion,  as  I  was  thus  furnished 
with  the  most  unequivocal  proofs  of 
the  supreme  dignity  of  Poulaho  and 
his  son  over  the  other  principal  chiefs. 
Indeed  by  this  time  I  had  acquired 
some  certain  information  about  the 
relative  situations  of  the  several  great 
men  whose  names  have  been  so  often 
mentioned.  I  now  knew  that  Maree- 
wagee and  old  Toobou  were  brothers. 
Both  of  them  were  men  of  great  pro- 
perty in  the  island,  and  seemed  to  be 
in  high  estimation  with  the  people  ; 
the  former,  in  particular,  had  the 
very  honourable  appellation  given  to 
him,  by  everybody,  of  "Motooa 
Tonga;"  that  is  to  say,  Father  of 
Tonga,  or  of  his  country.  The 
nature  of  his  relationship  to  the  King 
was  also  no  longer  a  secret  to  us ;  for 
we  now  understood  that  he  was  his 
father-in-law,  Poulaho  having  mar- 
ried one  of  his  daughters,  by  whom 
he  had  this  son;  so  that  Mareewagee 
was  the  prince's  grandfather.  PGU- 


JUNE  1777.]    ENTERTAINMENT  GIVEN  BY  MAREEWAGEE.         127 


laho's  appearance  having  satisfied  us 
that  we  had  been  under  a  mistake  in 
considering  Feenou  as  the  sovereign 
of  these  islands,  we  had  been  at  first 
much  puzzled  about  his  real  rank  ; 
but  that  was  by  this  time  ascertained, 
Feenou  was  one  of  Mareewagee's  sons, 
and  Tooboueitoa  was  another. 

On  my  landing  I  found  the  King 
in  the  house  adjoining  to  our  tent, 
along  with  our  people  who  resided  on 
shore.  The  moment  I  got  to  him, 
he  bestowed  upon  me  a  present  of  a 
large  hog  and  a  quantity  of  yams. 
About  the  dusk  of  the  evening  a 
number  of  men  came,  and,  having 
sat  down  in  a  round  group,  began  to 
sing  in  concert  with  the  music  of 
bamboo  drums,  which  were  placed  in 
the  centre.  There  were  three  long 
ones  and  two  short.  "With  these 
they  struck  the  ground  endwise,  as 
before  described.1  There  were  two 
others  which  lay  on  the  ground 
side  by  side,  and  one  of  them  was 
split  or  shivered;  on  these  a  man 
kept  beating  with  two  small  sticks. 
They  sung  three  songs  while  I  stayed, 
and  I  was  told  that  after  I  left  them 
the  entertainment  lasted  till  10 
o'clock.  They  burnt  the  leaves  of 
the  "wharra"  palm  for  a  light; 
which  is  the  only  thing  I  ever  saw 
them  make  use  of  for  this  purpose. 

On  the  16th  in  the  morning,  after 
visiting  the  several  works  now  carry- 
ing on  ashore,  Mr  Gore  and  I  took  a 
walk  into"  the  country ;  in  the  course 
of  which  nothing  remarkable  ap- 
peared but  our  having  opportunities 
of  seeing  the  whole  process  of  making 
cloth,  which  is  the  principal  manu- 
facture of  these  islands,  as  well  as  of 
many  others  in  this  ocean.  In  the 
narrative  of  my  first  voyage,  a  minute 
description  is  given  of  these  operations 
as  performed  at  Otaheite  ;  but  the 
process  here  differing  in  some  partic- 
ulars, it  may  be  worth  while  to  give 
the  following  account  of  it : 

The  manufacturers,  who  are  females, 
take  the  slender  stalks  or  trunks  of 
the  paper-mulberry,  which  they  cul- 

1  In  the  account  of  the  festivities 
at  Hapaee,  ante,  Chapter  V. 


tivate  for  that  purpose,  and  whick 
seldom  grows  more  than  six  or  seven 
feet  in  height  and  about  four  fingers 
in  thickness.  From  these  they  strip 
the  bark,  and  scrape  off  the  outer 
rind  with  a  mussel-shell.  The  bark 
is  then  rolled  up  to  take  off  the  con- 
vexity which  it  had  round  the  stalk, 
and  macerated  in  water  for  some 
time  (they  say  a  night).  After  this, 
it  is  laid  across  the  trunk  of  a  small 
tree  squared,  and  beaten  with  a 
square  wooden  instrument,  about  a 
foot  long,  full  of  coarse  grooves  on  all 
sides;  but  sometimes  with  one  that 
is  plain.  According  to  the  size  of 
the  bark,  a  piece  is  soon  produced ; 
but  the  operation  is  often  repeated  by 
another  hand,  or  it  is  folded  several 
times  and  beaten  longer,  which  seems 
rather  intended  to  close  than  to  divide 
its  texture.  When  this  is  sufficiently 
effected,  it  is  spread  out  to  dry ;  the 

Eieces  being  from  four  to  six  or  more 
;et  in  length,  and  half  as  broad. 
They  are  then  given  to  another  per- 
son, who  joins  the  pieces,  by  smear- 
ing part  of  them  over  with  the  viscous 
juice  of  a  berry  called  "to-oo,"  which 
serves  as  a  glue.  Having  been  thus 
lengthened,  they  are  laid  over  a  large 
piece  of  wood,  with  a  kind  of  stamp, 
made  of  a  fibrous  'substance  pretty 
closely  interwoven,  placed  beneath. 
They  then  take  a  bit  of  cloth,  and 
dip  it  in  a  juice  expressed  from  tho 
bark  of  a  tree  called  "  kokka,"  which 
they  rub  briskly  upon  the  piece  that 
is  making.  This  at  once  leaves  a 
dull  brown  colour  and  a  dry  gloss 
upon  its  surface;  the  stamp  at  the 
same  time  making  a  slight  impres- 
sion, that  answers  no  other  purpose 
that  I  could  see  but  to  make  the 
several  pieces  that  are  glued  together 
stick  a  little  more  firmly.  In  this 
manner  they  proceed,  joining  and 
Staining  by  degrees,  till  they  produce 
a  piece  of  cloth  of  such  length  and 
breadth  as  they  want;  generally 
leaving  a  border  of  a  foot  broad  at 
the  sides,  and  longer  at  the  ends, 
unstained.  Throughout  the  whole, 
if  any  parts  of  the  original  pieces 
_  are  too  thin,  or  have  holes,  which  is 
j  often  the  case,  they  glue  spara  bit* 


128 

npon  them  till  they  become  of  an 
equal  thickness.  When  they  want 
to  produce  a  black  colour,  they  mix 
the  soot  procured  from  an  oily  nut 
called  "  dooe  dooe,"  with  the  juice  of 
the  "kokka,"  in  different  quantities, 
according  to  the  proposed  depth  of  the 
tinge.  They  say  that  the  black  sort 
of  cloth,  which  is  most  commonly 
glazed,  makes  a  cold  dress,  but  the 
other  a  warm  one;  and,  to  obtain 
strength  in  both  they  are  always 
careful  to  join  the  small  pieces  length- 
wise, which  makes  it  impossible  to 
tear  the  cloth  in  any  direction  but 
one. 

On  our  return  from  the  country 
we  met  with  Feenou,  and  took  him 
and  another  young  chief  on  board  to 
dinner.  When  our  fare  was  set  upon 
the  table,  neither  of  them  would  eat 
a  bit ;  saying  that  they  were  "  taboo 
avy."  But  after  inquiring  how  the 
victuals  had  been  dressed,  having 
found  that  no  "avy"  (water)  had 
been  used  in  cooking  a  pig  and  some 
yams,  they  both  sat  down  and  made 
a  very  hearty  meal;  and,  on  being 
assured  that  there  was  no  water  in 
the  wine,  they  drank  of  it  also.  From 
this  we  conjectured  that  on  some 
account  or  another  they  were  at  this 
time  forbidden  to  use  water;  or, 
which  was  more  probable,  they  did 
not  like  the  water  we  made  use  of,  it 
being  taken  up  out  of  one  of  their 
bathing  places.  This  was  not  the 
only  time  of  our  meeting  with  people 
that  were  "taboo  avy;"  but  for  what 
reason  we  never  could  tell  with  any 
degree  of  certainty. 

IText  day,  the  17th,  was  fixed  upon 
by  Mareewagee  for  giving  a  grand 
"Haiva,"  or  entertainment,  to  which 
we  were  all  invited.  For  this  purpose 
\  large  space  had  been  cleared  before 
the  temporary  hut  of  this  chief  near 
our  post,  as  an  area  where  the  per- 
formances were  to  be  exhibited.  In 
the  morning  great  nmltitudes  of  the 
natives  came  in  from  the  country, 
every  one  carrying  a  pole  about  six 
feet  long  upon  his  shoulder;  and  at 
each  end  of  every  pole  a  yam  was 
suspended.  These  yams  and  poles 
were  deposited  on  each  side  of  the 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.      [VoY. III.  B.  II.  CH.  VII, 


area,  so  as  to  form  two  large  heaps, 
decorated  with  different  sorts  ol  small 
fish,  and  piled  up  to  the  greatest 
advantage.  They  were  Mareewagee's 
present  to  Captain  Clerke  and  me  ; 
and  it  was  hard  to  say  whether  the 
wood  for  fuel  or  the  yams  for  food 
were  of  most  value  to  us.  As  for  the 
fish,  they  might  serve  to  please  the 
sight,  but  were  very  offensive  to  the 
smell ;  part  of  them  having  been  kept 
two  or  three  days,  to  be  presented  to 
us  on  this  occasion.  Everything 
being  thus  prepared,  about  11  o'clock 
they  began  to  exhibit  various  dances, 
which  they  call  "mai."  The  music1 
consisted  at  first  of  seventy  men  as  a 
chorus,  who  sat  down;  and  amidst 
them  were  placed  three  instruments 
which  we  called  drums,  though 
very  unlike  them.  They  are  large 
cylindrical  pieces  of  wood,  or  trunks 
of  trees,  from  three  to  four  feet  long, 
some  twice  as  thick  as  an  ordinary- 
sized  man,  and  some  smaller,  hol- 
lowed entirely  out,  but  close  at  both 
ends,  and  open  only  by  a  chink  about 
three  inches  broad  running  almost 
the  whole  length  of  the  drums;  by 
which  opening  the  rest  of  the  wood  is 
certainly  hollowed,  though  the  opera- 
tion must  be  difficult.  This  instru- 
ment is  called  "naffa;"  and  with  the 
chink  turned  toward  them,  they  sit 
and  beat  strongly  upon  it  with  two 
cylindrical  pieces  of  hard  wood  about 
a  foot  long  and  as  thick  as  the  wrist; 
by  which  means  they  produce  a  rude 
though  loud  and  powerful  sound. 
They  vary  the  strength  and  rate  of 
their  beating  at  different  parts  of  the 
dance ;  and  also  change  the  tones,  by 
beating  in  the  middle  or  near  the 
end  of  their  drum. 

The  first  dance  consisted  of  four 
ranks  of  twenty-four  men  each,  hold- 
ing in  their  hands  a  little,  thin,  light 
wooden  instrument,  above  two  feet 
long,  and  in  shape  not  unlike  a  small 
oblong  paddle.  With  these,  which 


1  Mr  Anderson's  description  of  the 
entertainments  of  this  day,  being 
much  fuller  than  Captain  Cook's,  has 
been  adopted,  as  on  a  former  occa- 
sion. 


JUNE  1777.]        MAREEWAGEE'S  ENTERTAINMENT. 


are  called  "pagge,"  they  made  a 
great  many  different  motions ;  such 
as  pointing  them  towards  the  ground 
on  one  side,  at  the  same  time  inclin- 
ing their  bodies  that  way,  from  which 
they  were  shifted  to  the  opposite  side 
in  the  same  manner ;  then  passing 
them  quickly  from  one  hand  to  the 
other,  and  twirling  them  about  very 
dexterously,  with  a  variety  of  other 
manoeuvres,  all  which  were  accom- 
panied by  corresponding  attitudes  of 
the  body.  Their  motions  were  at 
first  slow,  but  quickened  as  the  drums 
beat  faster ;  and  they  recited  sen- 
tences in  a  musical  tone  the  whole 
time,  which  were  answered  by  the 
chorus ;  but  at  the  end  of  a  short 
space  they  all  joined,  and  finished 
with  a  shout.  After  ceasing  about 
two  or  three  minutes,  they  began  as 
before,  and  continued,  with  short  in- 
tervals, above  a  quarter  of  an  hour, 
when,  the  rear  rank  dividing,  shifted 
themselves  very  slowly  round  each 
end,  and  meeting  in  the  front,  formed 
the  first  rank,  the  whole  number  con- 
tinuing to  recite  the  sentences  as 
before.  The  other  ranks  did  the  same 
successively,  till  that  which  at  first 
was  the  front  became  the  rear ;  and 
the  evolution  continued  in  the  same 
manner  till  the  last  rank  regained  its 
first  situation.  They  then  began  a 
much  quicker  dance  (though  slow  at 
first),  and  sang  for  about  ten  minutes, 
when  the  whole  body  divided  into  two 
parts,  retreated  a  little,  and  then  ap- 
proached, forming  a  sort  of  circular 
figure,  which  finished  the  dance,  the 
drums  being  removed,  and  the  chorus 
going  off  the  field  at  the  same  time. 

The  second  dance  had  only  two 
drums,  with  forty  men  for  a  chorus  ; 
and  the  dancers,  or  rather  actors, 
consisted  of  two  ranks,  the  foremost 
having  seventeen  and  the  other  fifteen 
persons.  Feenou  was  at  their  head, 
or  in  the  middle  of  the  front  rank, 
which  is  the  principal  place  in  these 
cases.  They  danced  and  recited  sen- 
tences, with  some  very  short  intervals, 
for  about  half-an-hour,  sometimes 
quickly,  sometimes  more  slowly,  but 
with  such  a  degree  of  exactness  as  if 
ill  the  motions  were  made  by  one 


129 

man,  which  did  them  great  credit. 
Near  the  close,  the  back  rank  divided, 
came  round,  and  took  the  place  of  the 
front,  which  again  resumed  its  situa- 
tion, as  in  the  first  dance  ;  and  when 
they  finished,  the  drums  and  chorus, 
as  before,  went  off. 

Three  drums  (which  at  least  took 
two,  and  sometimes  three,  men  to 
carry  them)  were  now  brought  in, 
and  seventy  men  sat  down  as  a  chorus 
to  the  third  dance.  This  consisted 
of  two  ranks  of  sixteen  persons  each, 
with  young  Toobou  at  their  head,  who 
was  richly  ornamented  with  a  sort  of 
garment  covered  with  red  feathers. 
These  danced,  sang,  and  twirled  the 
"pagge"  as  before,  but  in  general 
much  quicker,  and  performed  so  well 
that  they  had  the  constant  applauses 
of  the  spectators.  A  motion  that  met 
with  particular  approbation  was  one 
in  which  they  held  the  face  aside  as 
if  ashamed,  and  the  "  pagge  "  before 
it.  The  back  rank  closed  before  the 
front  one,  and  that  again  resumed  its 
place,  as  in  the  two  former  dances ; 
but  then  they  began  again,  formed  a 
triple  row,  divided,  retreated  to  each 
end  of  the  area,  and  left  the  greatest 
part  of  the  ground  clear.  At  that 
instant  two  men  entered  very  hastily, 
and  exercised  the  clubs  which  they 
use  in  battle.  They  did  this  by  first 
twirling  them  in  their  hands  and 
making  circular  strokes  before  them 
with  great  force  and  quickness,  but 
so  skilfully  managed  that  though 
standing  quite  close  they  never  inter- 
fered. They  shifted  their  clubs  from 
hand  to  hand  with  great  dexterity ; 
and  after  continuing  a  little  time, 
kneeled  and  made  different  motions, 
tossing  the  clubs  up  in  the  air,  which 
they  caught  as  they  fell,  and  then 
went  off  as  hastily  as  they  entered. 
Their  heads  were  covered  with  pieces 
of  white  cloth  tied  at  the  crown  almost 
like  a  nightcap,  with  a  wreath  of 
foliage  round  the  forehead  ;  but  they 
had  only  very  small  pieces  of  white 
cloth  tied  about  their  waists,  probably 
that  they  might  be  cool  and  free  from 
every  encumbrance  or  weight.  A 
person  with  a  spear,  dressed  like  the 
former,  then  came  in,  and  in  the  sam« 
I 


ISO  COOK'S  VOYAGES, 

hasty  manner,  looking  about  eagerly 
as  if  in  search  of  somebody  to  throw 
it  at.  He  then  ran  hastily  to  one 
side  of  the  crowd  in  the  front,  and 
put  himself  in  a  threatening  attitude, 
as  if  he  meant  to  strike  with  his  spear 
at  one  of  them,  bending  the  knee  a 
little,  and  trembling  as  it  were  with 
rage.  He  continued  in  this  manner 
only  a  few  seconds,  when  he  moved 
to  the  other  side,  and  having  stood 
in  the  same  posture  there  for  the  same 
short  time,  retreated  from  the  ground 
as  fast  as  when  he  made  his  appear- 
ance. The  dancers,  who  had  divided 
into  two  parties,  kept  repeating  some- 
thing slowly  all  this  while,  and  now 
advanced  and  joined  again,  ending 
with  universal  applause.  It  should 
seem  that  this  dance  was  considered 
as  one  of  their  capital  performances, 
if  we  might  judge  from  some  of  the 
principal  people  being  engaged  in  it. 
For  one  of  the  drums  was  beat  by 
Futtafaihe,  the  brother  of  Poulaho  ; 
another  by  Feenou  ;  and  the  third, 
which  did  not  belong  to  the  chorus, 
by  Mareewagee  himself,  at  the  entrance 
of  his  hut. 

The  last  dance  had  forty  men  and 
two  drams  as  a  chorus.  It  consisted 
of  sixty  men  who  had  not  danced  be- 
fore, disposed  in  three  rows,  having 
twenty-four  in  front.  But  before 
they  began  w.e  were  entertained  with 
a  pretty  long  preliminary  harangue, 
in  which  the  whole  body  made  re- 
sponses to  a  single  person  who  spoke. 
They  recited  sentences  (perhaps  verses) 
alternately  with  the  chorus,  and  made 
many  motions  with  the  "  pagge,"  in 
a  very  brisk  mode,  which  were  all 
applauded  with  "  mareeai "  and  "  fy«- 
fogge,"  words  expressing  two  different 
degrees  of  praise.  They  divided  into 
two  bodies,  with  their  backs  to  each 
other,  formed  again,  shifted  their 
ranks  as  in  the  other  dances,  divided 
and  retreated,  making  room  for  two 
champions,  who  exercised  their  clubs 
as  before  ;  and  after  them  two  others, 
the  dancers  all  the  time  reciting 
slowly  in  turn  with  the  chorus,  after 
which  they  advanced  and  finished 
These  dances,  if  they  can  properly  be 
called  so,  lasted  from  11  till  near  3 


[VOT.III.B.II.CH.VII. 

o'clock ;  and  though  they  were  doubt- 
less intended  particularly  either  in 
honour  of  us,  or  to  show  a  specimen 
of  their  dexterity,  vast  numbers  of 
their  own  people  attended  as  specta- 
tors. Their  numbers  could  not  be 
computed  exactly,  on  account  of  the 
inequality  of  the  ground ;  but  by 
reckoning  the  inner  circle,  and  the 
number  in  depth,  which  was  between 
twenty  and  thirty  in  many  places,  we 
supposed  that  there  must  be  near 
4000.  At  the  same  time  there  were 
round  the  trading  place  at  the  tent 
and  straggling  about,  at  least  as  many 
more  ;  and  some  of  us  computed  that 
at  this  time  there  were  not  less  than 
10,000  or  12,000  people  in  our  neigh- 
bourhood—that is,  within  the  com- 
pass of  a  quarter  of  a  mile, — drawn 
together  for  the  most  part  by  mere 
curiosity. 

At  night  we  were  entertained  with 
the  "bomai,"  or  night  dances,  on 
a  space  before  Feenou's  temporary 
habitation.  They  lasted  about  three 
hours,  in  which  time  we  had  about 
twelve  of  them  performed,  much  after 
the  same  manner  as  those  at  Hapaee. 
But  in  two,  that  were  performed  by 
women,  a  number  of  men  came  and 
formed  a  circle  within  theirs  ;  and  in 
another,  consisting  of  twenty-four 
men,  there  were  a  number  of  motions 
with  the  hands  that  we  had  not  seen 
before,  and  were  highly  applauded. 
The  music  was  also  once  changed  in 
the  course  of  the  night,  and  in  one  of 
the  dances  Feenoii  appeared,  at  the 
head  of  fifty  men  who  had  performed 
at  Hapaee,  and  he  was  well  dressed 
with  linen,  a  large  piece  of  gauze, 
and  some  little  pictures  hung  round 
his  neck.  But  it  was  evident,  after 
the  diversions  were  closed,  that  we 
had  put  these  poor  people,  or  rather 
that  they  had  put  themselves,  to  much 
inconvenience ;  for  being  drawn  to- 
gether on  this  uninhabited  part  of 
their  island,  numbers  of  them  were 
obliged  to  lie  down  and  sleep  under 
the  bushes,  by  the  side  of  a  tree,  or 
of  a  canoe— nay,  many  either  lay 
down  in  the  open  air,  which  they  are 
not  fond  of,  or  walked  about  all  the 
night.  The  whole  of  this  entertain- 


JUNE  1777.]     THEFTS  COMMITTED  BY  THE  NATIVES. 


131 


merit  was  conducted  with  far  better 
order  than  could  have  been  expected 
in  so  large  an  assembly.  Amongst 
such  a  multitude  there  must  be  a 
number  of  ill-disposed  people,  and  we 
hourly  experienced  it.  All  our  care 
and  attention  did  not  prevent  their 
plundering  us  in  every  quarter,  and 
that  in  the  most  daring  and  insolent 
manner.  There  was  hardly  anything 
that  they  did  not  attempt  to  steal ; 
and  yet,  as  the  crowd  was  always  so 
great,  I  would  not  allow  the  sentries 
to  fire,  lest  the  innocent  should  suffer 
for  the  guilty.  They  once,  at  noon- 
day, ventured  to  aim  at  taking  an 
anchor  from  off  the  Discovery's  bows, 
and  they  would  certainly  have  suc- 
ceeded if  the  fluke  had  not  hooked 
one  of  the  chain  plates  in  lowering 
down  the  ship's  side,  from  which 
they  could  not  disengage  it  by  hand, 
and  tackles  were  things  they  were 
unacquainted  with.  The  only  act  of 
violence  they  were  guilty  of  was  the 
breaking  the  shoulder-bone  of  one 
of  our  goats,  so  that  she  died  soon 
after.  This  loss  fell  upon  themselves, 
as  she  was  one  of  those  that  I  intended 
to  leave  upon  the  island ;  but  of  this 
the  person  who  did  it  was  ignorant. 

Early  in  the  morning  of  the  18th, 
an  incident  happened  that  strongly 
marked  one  of  their  customs.  A  man 
got  out  of  a  canoe  into  the  quarter- 
gallery  of  the  Resolution,  and  stole 
from  thence  a  pewter  basin.  He  was 
discovered,  pursued,  and  brought 
alongside  the  ship.  On  this  occasion 
three  old  women  who  were  in  the 
canoe  made  loud  lamentations  over 
the  prisoner,  beating  their  breasts  and 
faces  in  a  most  violent  manner  with 
the  inside  of  their  fists,  and  all  this 
was  done  without  shedding  a  tear. 
This  mode  of  expressing  grief  is  what 
occasions  the  mark  which  almost  all 
this  people  bear  on  the  face  over  the 
cheek-bones.  The  repeated  blows 
which  they  inflict  upon  this  part 
abrade  the  skin,  and  make  even  the 
blood  flow  out  in  a  considerable 
quantity  ;  and  when  the  wounds  are 
recent  they  look  as  if  a  hollow  circle 
had  been  burned  in.  On  many  occa- 
sions they  actually  cut  this  part  of  the 


face  with  an  instrument,  in  the  same 
manner  as  the  people  of  Otaheite  cut 
their  heads. 

This  day  I  bestowed  on  Mareewa- 
gee  some  presents  in  return  for  those 
we  had  received  from  him  the  day  be- 
fore ;  and  as  the  entertainments  which 
he  had  then  exhibited  for  our  amuse- 
ment called  upon  us  to  make  some 
exhibition  in  our  way,  I  ordered  the 
party  of  marines  to  go  through  their 
exercise  on  the  spot  where  his  dances 
had  been  performed,  and  in  the  even- 
ing played  off  some  fireworks  at  the 
same  place.  Foulaho,  with  all  the 
principal  chiefs,  and  a  great  number 
of  people  of  all  denominations,  were 
present.  The  platoon  firing,  which 
was  executed  tolerably  well,  seemed 
to  give  them  pleasure  ;  but  they  were 
lost  in  astonishment  when  they  be- 
held our  water  rockets.  They  paid  but 
little  attention  to  the  fife  and  drum, 
or  French  horns,  that  played  during 
the  intervals.  The  King  sat  behind 
everybody,  because  no  one  is  allowed 
to  sit  behind  him,  and,  that  his  view 
might  not  be  obstructed,  nobody  sat 
immediately  before  him  ;  but  a  lane, 
as  it  were,  was  made  by  the  people 
from  him  quite  down  to  the  space 
allotted  for  the  fireworks. 

In  expectation  of  this  evening  show, 
the  circle  of  natives  about  our  tent 
being  pretty  large,  they  engaged  the 
greatest  part  of  the  afternoon  in  box- 
ing and  wrestling  ;  the  first  of  which 
exercises  they  call  "fangatooa"  and 
the  second  "fooboo."  When  any  of 
them  chooses  to  wrestle,  he  gets  up  from 
one  side  of  the  ring,  and  crosses  the 
ground  in  a  sort  of  measured  pace, 
clapping  smartly  on  the  elbow  joint 
of  one  arm,  which  is  bent,  and  pro- 
duces a  hollow  sound  j  that  is  reck- 
oned the  challenge.  If  no  person 
comes  out  from  the  opposite  side  to 
engage  him,  he  returns  in  the  same 
manner  and  sits  down  ;  but  sometimes 
stands  clapping  in  the  midst  of  the 
ground  to  provoke  some  one  to  come 
out.  If  an  opponent  appear,  they 
come  together  with  marks  of  the 
greatest  good-nature,  generally  smil- 
ing, and  taking  time  to  adjust  the 
piece  of  cloth  which  is  fastened  round 


332 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.      [VoY.III.B.II.CH.VII. 


the  waist.  They  then  lay  hold  of 
each  other  by  this  girdle,  with  a  hand 
on  each  side ;  and  lie  who  succeeds 
in  drawing  his  antagonist  to  him,  im- 
mediately tries  to  lift  him  upon  his 
breast  and  throw  him  upon  his  back  ; 
and  if  he  be  able  to  turn  round  with 
him  two  or  three  times  in  that  posi- 
tion before  he  throws  him,  his  dex- 
terity never  fails  of  procuring  plau- 
dits from  the  spectators.  If  they 
be  more  equally  matched,  they  close 
soon,  and  endeavour  to  throw  each 
other  by  entwining  their  legs,  or  lift- 
ing each  other  from  the  ground,  in 
which  struggles  they  show  a  prodigi- 
ous exertion  of  strength,  every  muscle, 
as  it  were,  being  ready  to  burst  with 
straining.  When  one  is  thrown,  he 
immediately  quits  the  field  ;  but  the 
victor  sits  down  for  a  few  seconds, 
then  gets  up  and  goes  to  the  side  he 
came  from,  who  proclaim  the  victory 
aloud,  in  a  sentence  delivered  slowly 
and  in  a  musical  cadence.  After  sit- 
ting a  short  space,  he  rises  again  and 
challenges,  when  sometimes  several 
antagonists  make  their  appearance  ; 
but  he  has  the  privilege  of  choosing 
which  of  them  he  pleases  to  wrestle 
with,  and  has  likewise  the  preference 
of  challenging  again,  if  he  should 
throw  his  adversary,  until  he  himself 
be  vanquished  ;  and  then  the  opposite 
side  sing  the  song  of  victory  in  favour 
of  their  champion.  It  also  often 
happens  that  live  or  six  rise  from 
each  side  and  challenge  together,  in 
which  case  it  is  common  to  see  three 
or  four  couple  engaged  on  the  field 
at  once.  But  it  is  astonishing 
to  see  what  temper  they  preserve  in 
this  exercise,  for  we  observed  no 
instances  of  their  leaving  the  spot 
with  the  least  displeasure  in  their 
countenances.  When  they  find  that 
they  are  so  equally  matched  as  not 
to  be  likely  to  throw  each  other,  they 
leave  off  by  mutual  consent.  And  if 
the  fall  of  one  is  not  fair,  or  if  it  does 
not  appear  very  clearly  who  has  had 
the  advantage,  both  sides  sing  the 
victory,  and  then  they  engage  again. 
But  no  person  who  has  been  van- 
quished can  engage  with  his  conqueror 
a  second  time. 


The  boxers  advance  sideways, 
changing  the  side  at  every  pace,  with 
one  arm  stretched  fully  out  before, 
the  other  behind,  and  holding  a  piece 
of  cord  in  one  hand,  which  they  wrap 
firmly  about  it  when  they  find  ail 
antagonist,  or  else  have  done  so  before 
they  enter.  This  I  imagine  they  do 
to  prevent  dislocation  of  the  hand  or 
fingers.  Their  blows  are  directed 
chiefly  to  the  head,  but  sometimes  to 
the  sides,  and  are  dealt  out  with  great 
activity.  They  shift  sides,  and  box 
equally  well  with  both  hands.  But 
one  of  their  favourite  and  most  dex- 
terous blows  is  to  turn  round  on  their 
heel  just  as  they  have  struck  their 
antagonist,  and  to  give  him  another 
very  smart  one  with  the  other  hand 
backward.  The  boxing  matches  sel- 
dom last  long,  and  the  parties  either 
leave  off  together,  or  one  acknow- 
ledges his  being  beaten.  But  they 
never  sing  the  song  of  victory  in  these 
cases,  unless  one  strikes  his  adversary 
to  the  ground,  which  shows,  that  of 
the  two,  wrestling  is  their  most  ap- 
proved diversion.  Not  only  boys 
engage  in  both  the  exercises,  but  fre- 
quently little  girls  box  very  obstin- 
ately for  a  short  time.  In  all  which 
cases  it  does  not  appear  that  they 
ever  consider  it  as  the  smallest  dis- 
grace to  be  vanquished  ;  and  the  per- 
son overcome  sits  down  with  as  much 
indifference  as  if  he  had  never  entered 
the  lists.  Some  of  our  people  ven- 
tured to  contend  with  them  in  both 
exercises,  but  were  always  worsted, 
except  in  a  few  instances,  where  it 
appeared  that  the  fear  they  were  in  of 
oil'ending  us  contributed  more  to  the 
victory  than  the  superiority  of  the 
person  they  engaged. 

The  cattle  which  we  had  brought, 
and  which  were  all  on  shore,  how- 
ever carefully  guarded,  I  was  sensible, 
ran  no  small  risk,  when  I  considered 
the  thievish  disposition  of  many  of 
the  natives,  and  their  dexterity  in 
appropriating  to  themselves  by  stealth 
what  they  saw  no  prospect  of  obtain- 
ing by  fair  means.  For  this  reason  I 
thought  it  prudent  to  declare  my  in- 
tention of  leaving  behind  me  some  of 
our  animals,  and  even  to  make  a  dis- 


1777.]  CONFINEMENT 

tribution  of  them  previously  to  my 
departure.  With,  this  view,  in  the 
evening  of  the  19th,  I  assembled  all 
the  chiefs  before  our  house,  and  my 
intended  presents  to  them  were  marked 
out.  To  Poulaho,  the  King,  I  gave 
a  young  English  bull  and  cow ;  to 
Mareewagee,  a  Cape  ram  and  two 
ewes ;  and  to  Feenou  a  horse  and  a 
mare.  As  my  design  to  make  such  a 
distribution  had  been  made  known 
the  day  before,  most  of  the  people  in 
the  neighbourhood  were  then  present. 
I  instructed  Omai  to  tell  them  that 
there  were  no  such  animals  within 
many  mouths'  sail  of  their  island  ; 
that  we  had  brought  them  for  their  use 
from  that  immense  distance,  at  a  vast 
trouble  and  expense ;  that  therefore 
they  must  be  careful  not  to  kill  any 
of  them  till  they  had  multiplied  to  a 
numerous  race  ;  and  lastly,  that  they 
and  their  children  ought  to  remem- 
ber that  they  had  received  them  from 
the  men  of  "Britane."  He  also  ex- 
plained to  them  their  several  uses, 
and  what  else  was  necessary  for  them 
to  know,  or  rather  as  far  as  he  knew  ; 
for  Omai  was  not  very  well  versed  in 
such  things  himself.  As  I  intended 
that  the  above  presents  should  re- 
main with  the  other  cattle  till  we 
were  ready  to  sail,  I  desired  each  of 
the  chiefs  to  send  a  man  or  two  to 
look  after  their  respective  animals 
along  with  my  people,  in  order  that 
they  might  be  better  acquainted  with 
them,  and  with  the  manner  of  treat- 
ing them.  The  King  and  Feenou  did 
so,  but  neither  Mareewagee,  nor  any 
other  person  for  him,  took  the  least 
notice  of  the  sheep  afterwards ;  nor 
did  old  Toobou  attend  at  this  meet- 
ing, though  he  was  invited,  and  was 
in  the  neighbourhood.  I  had  meant 
to  give  him  the  goats,  viz. ,  a  ram  and 
two  ewes,  which,,  as  he  was  so  indif- 
ferent about  them,  I  added  to  the 
King's  share. 

It  soon  appeared  that  some  were 
dissatisfied  with  this  allotment  of  our 
animals  ;  for  early  next  morning  one 
of  our  kids  and  two  turkey  cocks  were 
missing.  I  could  not  be  so  simple  as 
to  suppose  that  this  was  merely  an  ac- 
cidental  loss ;  and  I  was  determined  to  i 


OF  POULAHO. 


133 


have  them  again .  The  first  step  I  took 
was  to  seize  on  three  canoes  that  hap- 
pened to  be  alongside  the  sbips.  I 
then  went  ashore,  and  having  found 
the  King,  his  brother,  Feenou,  and 
some  other  chiefs,  in  the  house  that 
we  occupied,  I  immediately  put  a 
guard  over  them,  and  gave  them  to 
understand  that  they  must  remain 
under  restraint  till  not  only  the  kid 
and  the  turkeys,  but  the  other  things 
that  had  been  stolen  from  us,  at  dif- 
ferent times,  were  restored.  They 
concealed,  as  well  as  they  could,  their 
feelings  on  finding  themselves  pri- 
soners ;  and  having  assured  me  that 
everything  should  be  restored  as  I  de- 
sired, sat  down  to  drink  their  "kava," 
seemingly  much  at  their  ease.  It  was 
not  long  before  an  axe  and  an  iron 
wedge  were  brought  to  me.  In  the 
meantime  some  armed  natives  began 
to  gather  behind  the  house ;  but  on  a 
part  of  our  guard  marching  against 
them  they  dispersed,  and  I  advised 
the  chiefs  to  give  orders  that  no  more 
should  appear.  Such  orders  were  ac- 
cordingly given  by  them,  and  they 
were  obeyed.  On  asking  thehi  to  go 
aboard  with  me  to  dinner,  they  readily 
consented.  But  some  having  after- 
ward objected  to  the  King's  going,  he 
instantly  rose  up  and  declared  he  would 
be  the  first  man.  Accordingly  we 
came  on  board.  I  kept  them  there 
till  near  4  o'clock,  when  I  conducted 
them  ashore,  and  soon  after  the  kid 
and  one  of  the  turkey  cocks  were 
brought  back.  The  other,  they  said, 
should  be  restored  the  next  morning. 
I  believed  this  would  happen,  and  re- 
leased both  them  and  the  canoes. 

After  the  chiefs  had  left  us,  I  walked 
out  with  Omai  to  observe  how  the 
people  about  us  fared,  for  this  was 
the  time  of  their  meals.  I  found  that 
in  general  they  were  at  short  commons. 
Nor  is  this  to  be  wondered  at,  since 
most  of  the  yams  and  other  provisions 
which  they  brought  with  them  were 
sold  to  us  ;  and  they  never  thought  of 
returning  to  their  own  habitations 
while  they  could  find  any  sort  of  sub- 
sistence in  our  neighbourhood.  Our 
station  was  upon  an  uncultivated 
point  of  land,  so  that  there  were  none 


134 

of  the  islandeis  who,  properly,  resided 
within  half-a-?nile  of  us.  But  even 
at  this  distance,  the  multitude  of 
strangers  being  so  great,  one  might 
have  expected  that  every  house  would 
have  been  much  crowded.  It  was 
quite  otherwise.  The  families  resid- 
ing there  were  as  much  left  to  them- 
selves as  if  there  had  not  been  a 
supernumerary  visitor  near  them.  All 
the  strangers  lived  in  little  temporary 
sheds,  or  under  trees  and  bushes ;  and 
the  cocoa-trees  were  stripped  of  their 
branches  to  erect  habitations  for  the 
chiefs.  In  this  walk  we  met  with 
about  half-a-dozen  women  in  one  place 
at  supper.  Two  of  the  company,  I 
observed,  being  fed  by  the  others,  on 
our  asking  the  reason  they  said 
"  taboo  mattee."  On  further  inquiry 
we  found  that  one  of  them  had  two 
months  before  washed  the  dead  corpse 
of  a  chief,  and  that  on  this  account 
she  was  not  to  handle  any  food  for  five 
months.  The  other  had  performed 
the  same  office  to  the  corpse  of  an- 
other person  of  inferior  rank,  and  was 
now  under  the  same  restriction,  but 
not  for  so  long  a  time.  At  another 
place  hard  by  we  saw  another  woman 
fed,  and  we  learned  that  she  had  as- 
sisted in  washing  the  corpse  of  the 
above-mentioned  chief. 

Early  the  next  morning  tho  King 
came  on  Voard  to  invite  me  to  an 
entertainment  which  he  proposed  to 
give  the  same  day.  He  had  already 
been  under  the  barber's  hands,  his 
head  being  all  besmeared  with  red 
pigment  in  order  to  redden  his  hair, 
which  was  naturally  of  a  dark  brown 
colour.  After  breakfast  I  attended 
him  to  the  shore,  and  we  found  his 
people  very  busy,  in  two  places  in 
the  front  of  our  area,,  fixing  in  an  up- 
right and  square  position,  thus  [°  °], 
four  very  long  posts  near  two  feet 
from  each  other.  The  space  between 
the  posts  was  afterwards  filled  up  with 
yams,  and  as  they  went  on  filling  it, 
they  fastened  pieces  of  sticks  across 
from  post  to  post  at  the  distance  of 
about  every  four  feet,  to  prevent  the 
posts  from  separating  by  the  weight  of 
the  enclosed  yams,  and  also  to  get  up 
by.  When  the  yams  had  reached  the 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.  [VoY.  III.  B.  II.  CH.  VII. 
top  of  the  first  posts,  they  fastened 
others  to  them,  and  so  continued  till 
each  pile  was  the  height  of  thirty 
feet  or  upwards.  On  the  top  of  one 
they  placed  two  baked  hogs,  and  on 
the  top  of  the  other  a  living  one ;  and 
another  they  tied  by  the  legs  half- 
way up.  It  was  matter  of  curiosity 
to  observe  with  what  facility  and  de- 
spatch these  two  piles  were  raised. 
Had  our  seamen  been  ordered  to  exe- 
cute such  a  work,  they  would  have 
sworn  that  it  could  not  be  performed 
without  carpenters  ;  and  the  carpen- 
ters would  have  called  to  their  aid  a 
dozen  different  sorts  of  tools,  and 
have  expended  at  least  a  hundred- 
weight of  nails ;  and  after  all  it  would 
have  employed  them  as  many  days  as 
it  did  these  people  hours.  But  sea- 
men, like  most  other  amphibious  ani- 
mals, are  always  the  most  helpless  on 
land.  After  they  had  completed  these 
two  piles,  they  made  several  other 
heaps  of  yams  and  bread-fruit  on  each 
side  of  the  area,  to  which  were  added 
a  turtle  and  a  large  quantity  of  excel- 
lent fish.  All  this,  with  a  piece  of 
cloth,  a  mat,  and  some  red  feathers, 
was  the  King's  present  to  me  ;  and  he 
seemed  to  pique  himself  on  exceeding, 
as  he  really  did,  Feenou's  liberality 
which  I  experienced  at  Hapaee. 

About  1  o'clock  they  began  the 
"mai,"  or  dances,  the  first  of  which 
was  almost  a  copy  of  the  first  that 
was  exhibited  at  Mareewagee's  enter- 
tainment. The  second  was  conducted 
by  Captain  Furneaux's  Toobou,  who, 
as  we  mentioned,  had  also  danced 
there  ;  and  in  this  four  or  five  women 
were  introduced,  who  went  through 
the  several  parts  with  as  much  exact- 
ness as  the  men.  Towards  the  end, 
the  performers  divided  to  leave  room 
for  two  champions,  who  exercised 
their  clubs,  as  described  on  a  former 
occasion.  And  in  the  third  dance, 
which  was  the  last  now  presented,  two 
more  men  with  their  clubs  displayed 
their  dexterity.  The  dances  were 
succeeded  by  wrestling  and  boxing, 
and  one  man  entered  the  lists  with  a 
sort  of  club  made  from  the  stem  of  a 
cocoa-leaf,  which  is  firm  and  heavy, 
but  could  find  no  antagonist  to  engage 


JUNE  1777.]     SOME  OF  THE  OFFICERS  PLUNDERED. 


him  at  so  rough  a  sport.  At  night 
we  had  the  "  bomai "  repeated,  in 
which  Poulaho himself  danced,  dressed 
in  English  manufacture.  But  neither 
these,  nor  the  dances  in  the  daytime 
were  so  considerable,  nor  carried  on 
with  so  much  spirit,  as  Feenou's  or 
Mareewagee's ;  and  therefore  there  is 
less  occasion  to  be  more  particular 
in  our  description  of  them. 

In  order  to  be  present  the  whole 
time,  I  dined  ashore.  The  King  sat 
down  with  us,  but  he  neither  ate  nor 
drank.  I  found  that  this  was  owing 
to  the  presence  of  a  female  whom,  at 
his  desire,  I  had  admitted  to  the 
dining  party,  and  who,  as  we  after- 
wards understood,  had  superior  rank 
to  himself.  As  soon  as  this  great 
personage  had  dined,  she  stepped  up 
to  the  King,  who  put  his  hands  to  her 
feet,  and  then  she  retired.  He  imme- 
diately dipped  his  fingers  into  a  glass 
of  wine,  and  then  received  the  obeis- 
ance of  all  her  followers.  This  was 
the  single  instance  we  ever  observed 
of  his  paying  this  mark  of  reverence 
to  any  person.  At  the  King's  desire 
I  ordered  some  fireworks  to  be  played 
off  in  the  evening,  but  unfortunately 
being  damaged,  this  exhibition  did 
not  answer  expectation. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

As  no  more  entertainments  were  to 
be  expected  on  either  side,  and  the 
curiosity  of  the  populace  was  by  this 
time  pretty  well  satisfied,  on  the  day 
after  Poulaho's  "  Haiva,"  most  of 
them  left  us.  We  still,  however,  had 
thieves  about  us;  and,  encouraged  by 
the  negligence  of  our  own  people,  we 
had  continual  instances  of  their  de- 
predations. Some  of  the  officers  be- 
longing to  both  ships,  who  had  made 
an  excursion  into  the  interior  parts 
of  the  island  without  my  leave,  and 
indeed  without  my  knowledge,  re- 
turned this  evening,  after  an  absence 
of  two  days.  They  had  taken  with 
them  their  muskets,  with  the  neces- 
sary ammunition,  and  several  small 
articles  of  the  favourite  commodities ; 


135 

all  which  the  natives  had  the  dexterity 
to  steal  from  them  in  the  course  of 
their  expedition.  This  affair  was 
likely  to  be  attended  with  incon- 
venient consequences.  For  our  plun- 
dered travellers,  upon  their  return, 
without  consulting  me,  employed 
Omai  to  complain  to  the  King  of  the 
treatment  they  had  met  with.  He, 
not  knowing  what  step  I  should  take, 
and,  from  what  had  already  happened, 
fearing  lest  I  might  lay  him  again 
under  restraint,  went  off  early  the 
next  morning.  His  example  was  fol- 
lowed by  Feenou ;  so  that  we  had 
not  a  chief  of  any  authority  remaining 
in  our  neighbourhood.  I  was  very 
much  displeased  at  this,  and  repri- 
manded Omai  for  having  presumed  to 
meddle.  This  reprimand  put  him 
upon  his  metal  to  bring  his  friend 
Feenou  back ;  and  he  succeeded  in 
the  negotiation,  having  this  powerful 
argument  to  urge,  that  he  might  depend 
upon  my  using  no  violent  measures  to 
oblige  the  natives  to  restore  what  had 
been  taken  from  the  gentlemen.  Fee- 
nou, trusting  to  this  declaration,  re- 
turned toward  the  evening;  and, 
encouraged  by  his  reception,  Poulaho 
favoured  us  with  his  company  the  day 
after. 

Both  these  chiefs,  upon  this  occa- 
sion, very  justly  observed  to  me  that 
if  any  of  my  people  at  any  time  wanted 
to  go  into  the  country,  they  ought  to 
be  acquainted  with  it ;  in  which  case 
they  would  send  proper  people  along 
with  them,  and  then  they  would  be 
answerable  for  their  safety.  And  I 
am  convinced  from  experience  that, 
by  taking  this  very  reasonable  pre- 
caution, a  man  and  his  property  may 
be  as  safe  among  these  islanders  as  in 
other  parts  of  the  more  civilised  world. 
Though  I  gave  myself  no  trouble  about 
the  recovery  of  the  things  stolen  upon 
this  -occasion,  most  of  them,  through 
Feenou's  interposition,  were  recovered, 
except  one  musket  and  a  few  other 
articles  of  inferior  value.  By  this 
time  also  we  had  recovered  the  tur- 
key cock  and  most  of  the  tools  and 
other  matters  that  had  been  stolen 
from  our  workmen.  We  had  now 
recruited  the  ships  with  wood  and 


136 

water  ;  we  had  finished  the  repairs  of 
our  sails  ;  and  had  little  more  to  ex- 
pect from  the  inhabitants  of  the  pro- 
duce of  their  island.  However,  as  an 
eclipse  of  the  sun  was  to  happen  upon 
the  5th  of  the  next  month,  I  resolved 
to  defer  sailing  till  that  time  had 
elapsed,  in  order  to  have  a  chance  of 
observing  it.  Having  therefore  some 
days  of  leisure  before  me,  a  party  of 
ns,  accompanied  by  Poulaho,  set  out 
early  next  morning  in  a  boat,  for 
Mooa,  the  village  where  he  and  the 
other  great  men  usually  reside.  As 
we  rowed  up  the  inlet,  we  met  with 
fourteen  canoes  fishing  in  company, 
in  one  of  which  was  Poulaho's  son. 
In  each  canoe  was  a  triangular  net, 
extended  between  two  poles,  at  the 
lower  end  of  which  was  a  cod1  to  re- 
ceive and  secure  the  fish.  They  had 
already  caught  some  fine  mullets,  and 
they  put  about  a  dozen  into  our  boat. 
I  desired  to  see  their  method  of  fish- 
ing, which  they  readily  complied 
with.  A  shoal  of  fish  was  supposed 
to  be  upon  one  of  the  banks,  which 
they  instantly  enclosed  in  a  long  net 
like  a  seine  or  set-net.  This  the 
fishers,  one  getting  into  the  water  out 
of  each  boat,  surrounded  with  the  tri- 
angular nets  in  their  hands ;  with 
which  they  scooped  the  fish  out  of 
the  seine,  or  caught  them  as  they  at- 
tempted to  leap  over  it.  They  showed 
us  the  whole  process  of  this  operation 
(which  seemed  to  be  a  sure  one),  by 
throwing  in  some  of  the  fish  they  had 
already  caught,  for  at  this  time  there 
happened  to  be  none  upon  the  bank 
that  was  enclosed. 

Leaving  the  prince  and  his  fishing 
party,  we  proceeded  to  the  bottom  of 
the  bay,  and  landed  where  we  had 
done  before  on  our  fruitless  errand  to 
see  Mareewagee.  As  soon  as  we  got 
on  shore,  the  King  desired  Omai  to 
tell  me  that  I  need  be  under  no  ap- 
prehensions about  the  boat  or  any- 
thing in  her,  for  not  a  single  article 
would  be  touched  by  any  one ;  and  we 
afterward  found  this  to  be  the  case. 
We  were  immediately  conducted  to 
one  of  Poulaho's  houses  not  far  off, 

1  A  bag,  or  pocket. 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.     [VoY.IIl.B.II.CH.VIIl. 


and  near  the  public  one,  or  "malaee," 
in  which  we  had  been,  when  we  first 
visited  Mooa.  This,  though  pretty 
large,  seemed  to  be  his  private  habi- 
tation, and  was  situated  within  a 
plantation.  The  King  took  his  seat 
at  one  end  of  the  house,  and  the 
people  who  came  to  visit  him  sat 
down,  as  they  arrived,  in  a  semicircle 
at  the  other  end.  The  first  thing 
done  was  to  prepare  a  bowl  of  "kava," 
and  to  order  some  yams  to  be  baked 
for  us.  While  these  were  getting 
ready,  some  of  us,  accompanied  by  a 
few  of  the  King's  attendants,  and 
Omai  as  our  interpreter,  walked  out 
to  take  a  view  of  a  ' '  fiatooka, "  or 
burying- place,  which  we  had  observtd 
to  be  almost  close  by  the  house,  and 
was  much  more  extensive,  and  seem- 
ingly of  more  consequence,  than  any 
we  had  seen  at  the  other  islands. 
We  were  told  that  it  belonged  to  the 
King.  It  consisted  of  three  pretty 
large  houses,  situated  upon  a  rising 
ground,  or  rather  just  by  the  brink  of 
it,  with  a  small  one  at  some  distance, 
all  ranged  longitudinally.  The  mid- 
dle house  of  the  three  first  was  by 
much  the  largest,  and  placed  in  a 
square,  twenty-four  paces  by  twenty- 
eight,  raised  about  three  feet.  The 
other  houses  were  placed  on  little 
mounts  raised  artificially  to  the  same 
height.  The  floors  of  these  houses, 
as  also  the  tops  of  the  mounts  round 
them,  were  covered  with  loose,  fine 
pebbles,  and  the  whole  was  enclosed 
by  large  flat  stones  of  hard  coral  rock, 
properly  hewn,  placed  on  their  edges ; 
one  of  which  stones  measured  twelve 
feet  in  length,  two  in  breadth,  and 
above  one  in  thickness.  One  of  the 
houses,  contrary  to  what  we  had  seen 
before,  was  open  on  one  side;  and 
within  it  were  two  rude  wooden  busts 
of  men,  one  near  the  entrance  and  the 
r>ther  farther  in.  On  inquiring  of  the 
natives  who  had  followed  us  to  the 
ground,  but  durst  not  enter  here, 
what  these  images  were  intended  for, 
they  made  us  as  sensible  as  we  could 
wish,  that  they  were  merely  memo- 
rials of  some  chiefs  who  had  been 
buried  there,  and  not  the  representa- 
tions of  any  deity.  Such  monuments, 


JUNE  1777.] 


AT  POULAHO'S  HOUSE. 


137 


it  should  seem,  are  seldom  raised  ; 
for  these  had  probably  been  erected 
several  ages  ago.  We  were  told  that 
the  dead  had  been  buried  in  each  of 
these  houses ;  but  no  marks  of  this 
appeared.  In  one  of  them  was  the 
carved  head  of  an  Otaheite  canoe, 
which  had  been  driven  ashore  on  their 
coast,  and  deposited  here.  At  the 
foot  of  the  rising  ground  was  a  large 
area  or  grass  plot,  with  different  trees 
planted  about  it;  amongst  which 
were  several  of  those  called  "etoa," 
very  large.  These,  as  they  resemble 
the  cypress,  had  a  fine  effect  in  such 
a  place.  There  was  also  a  row  of  low 
palms  near  one  of  the  houses,  and  be- 
hind it  a  ditch  in  which  lay  a  great 
number  of  old  baskets. 

After  dinner,  or  rather  after  we  had 
refreshed  ourselves  with  some  provi- 
sions which  we  had  brought  with  us 
from  our  ship,  we  made  an  excursion 
into  the  country,  taking  a  pretty 
large  circuit,  attended  by  one  of  the 
King's  ministers.  Our  train  was  not 
great,  as  he  would  not  suffer  the 
rabble  to  follow  us.  He  also  obliged 
all  those  whom  we  met  upon  our  pro- 
gress to  sit  down  till  we  had  passed  ; 
which  is  a  mark  of  respect  due  only 
to  their  sovereigns.  We  found  by  far 
the  greatest  part  of  the  country  cul- 
tivated, and  planted  with  various 
sorts  of  productions;  and  most  of 
these  plantations  were  fenced  round. 
Some  spots,  where  plantations  had 
been  formerly,  now  produced  nothing, 
lying  fallow  ;  and  there  were  places 
that  had  never  been  touched,  but  lay 
in  a  state  of  nature;  and  yet  even 
these  were  useful  in  affording  them 
timber,  as  they  were  generally  covered 
with  trees.  We  met  with  several 
large  uninhabited  houses,  which,  we 
were  told,  belonged  to  the  King. 
There  were  many  public  and  well- 
beaten  roads,  and  abundance  of  foot- 
paths leading  to  every  part  of  the 
island.  The  roads  being  good  and 
the  country  level,  travelling  was  very 
easy.  It  is  remai-kable  that  when  we 
were  on  the  most  elevated  parts,  at 
least  100  feet  above  the  level  of  the 
sea,  we  often  met  with  the  same  coral 
rock  which  is  found  at  the  shore,  pro- 


jecting above  the  surface,  and  perfor- 
ated and  cut  into  all  those  inequalities 
which  are  usually  seen  in  rocks  that 
lie  within  the  wash  of  the  tide.  And 
yet  these  very  spots,  with  hardly  any 
soil  upon  them,  were  covered  with 
luxuriant  vegetation.  We  were  con- 
ducted to  several  little  pools  and  to 
some  springs  of  water ;  but  in  general 
they  were  either  stinking  or  brackish, 
though  recommended  to  us  by  the 
natives  as  excellent.  The  former  were 
mostly  inland,  the  latter  near  the 
shore  of  the  bay  and  below  high- water 
mark;  so  that  tolerable  water  could 
be  taken  up  from  them  only  when  the 
tide  was  out. 

When. we  returned  from  our  walk, 
which  was  not  till  the  dusk  of  the 
evening,  our  supper  was  ready.  It 
consisted  of  a  baked  hog,  some  fish, 
and  yams,  all  excellently  well  cooked 
after  the  method  of  these  islands.  As 
there  was  nothing  to  amuse  us  after 
supper,  we  followed  the  custom  of  the 
country,  and  lay  down  to  sleep,  our 
beds  being  mats  spread  upon  the  floor, 
and  cloth  to  cover  us.  The  King, 
who  had  made  himself  very  happy 
with  some  wine  and  brandy  which  we 
had  brought,  slept  in  the  same  house, 
as  well  as  several  others  of  the  natives. 
Long  before  daybreak  he  and  they  all 
rose,  and  sat  conversing  by  moon- 
light. The  conversation,  as  might 
well  be  guessed,  turned  wholly  upon 
us,  the  King  entertaining  his  company 
with  an  account  of  what  he  had  seen 
or  remarked.  As  soon  as  it  was  day, 
they  dispersed,  some  one  way  and 
some  another ;  but  it  was  not  long 
before  they  all  returned,  and  with 
them  several  more  of  their  country- 
men. They  now  began  to  prepare  a 
bowl  of  "  kava ;"  and  leaving  them  so 
employed,  I  went  to  pay  a  visit  to 
Toobou,  Captain  Furneaux's  friend, 
who  had  a  house  hard  by,  which  for 
size  and  neatness  was  exceeded  by 
few  in  the  place.  As  I  had  left  the 
others,  so  I  found  here  a  company  pre- 
paring a  morning  draught.  This 
chief  made  a  present  to  me  of  a  living 
hog,  a  baked  one,  a  quantity  of  yams, 
and  a  large  piece  of  cloth.  When  I 
returned  to  the  King,  I  found  him 


138 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.     [VpY.III.B.II.CH.VIII. 


and  his  circle  of  attendants  drinking 
the  second  bowl  of  "kava."  That 
"being  emptied,  he  told  Omai  that  he 
was  going  presently  to  perform  a 
mourning  ceremony,  called  "tooge," 
on  account  of  a  son  who  had  been 
dead  some  time,  and  he  desired  us  to 
accompany  him.  We  were  glad  of 
the  opportunity,  expecting  to  see 
somewhat  new  or  curious. 

The  first  thing  the  chief  did  was  to 
step  out  of  the  house,  attended  by 
two  old  women,  and  put  on  a  new 
suit  of  clothes,  or  rather  a  new  piece 
of  cloth,  and  over  it  an  old  ragged 
mat  that  might  have  served  his  great- 
grandfather on  some  such  occasion. 
His  servants,  or  those  who .  attended 
him,  were  all  dressed  in  the  same 
manner,  excepting  that  none  of  their 
mats  could  vie  in  antiquity  with  that 
of  their  master.  Thus  equipped,  we 
marched  off,  preceded  by  about  eight 
or  ten  persons,  all  in  the  above  habits 
of  ceremony,  each  of  them  besides 
having  a  small  green  bough  about  his 
neck.  Poulaho  held  his  bough  in  his 
hand  till  we  drew  near  the  place  of 
rendezvous,  when  he  also  put  it  about 
his  neck.  We  now  entered  a  small 
enclosure,  in  which  was  a  neat  house, 
and  we  found  one  man  sitting  before 
it.  As  the  company  entered,  they 
pulled  off  the  green  branches  from 
round  their  necks  and  threw  them 
away.  The  King  having  first  seated 
iimself,  the  others  sat  down  before 
viim  in  the  usual  manner.  The  circle 
ncreased,  by  others  dropping  in,  to 
;he  number  of  100  or  upwards,  mostly 
Did  men,  all  dressed  as  above  described. 
The  company  being  completely  as- 
sembled, a  large  root  of  "  kava," 
brought  by  one  of  the  King's  servants, 
was  produced,  and  a  bowl  which  con- 
tained four  or  five  gallons.  Several 
persons  now  began  to  chew  the  root, 
and  this  bowl  was  made  brim-full  of 
liquor.  While  it  was  preparing, 
others  were  employed  in  making 
drinking- cups  of  plantain  leaves.  The 
first  cup  that  was  filled  was  presented 
to  the  King,  and  he  ordered  it  to  be 
given  to  another  person.  The  second 
was  also  brought  to  him,  which  he 
drank,  and  the  third  was  offered  to 


me.  Afterward,  as  each  cup  was 
filled,  the  man  who  filled  it  asked 
who  was  to  have  it.  Another  then 
named  the  person,  and  to  him  it  was 
carried.  As  the  bowl  grew  low,  the 
man  who  distributed  the  liquor  seemed 
rather  at  a  loss  to  whom  cups  of  it 
should  be  next  sent,  and  frequently 
consulted  those  who  sat  near  him. 
This  mode  of  distribution  continued 
while  any  liquor  remained,  and  though 
not  half  the  company  had  a  share, 
yet  no  one  seemed  dissatisfied.  About 
half-a-dozen  cups  served  for  all,  and 
e  irli,  as  it  was  emptied,  was  thrown 
down  upon  the  ground,  where  the 
servants  picked  it  up  and  carried  it  to 
be  filled  again.  During  the  whole 
time  the  chief  and  his  circle  sat,  as 
was  usually  the  case,  with  a  great 
deal  of  gravity,  hardly  speaking  a 
word  to  eacli  other.  We  had  long 
waited  in  expectation  each  moment 
of  seeing  the  mourning  ceremony 
begin,  when,  soon  after  the  "kava" 
was  drank  out,  to  our  great  surprise 
and  disappointment  they  all  rose  up 
and  dispersed,  and  Poulaho  told  us 
he  was  now  ready  to  attend  us  to  the 
ships.  If  this  was  a  mourning  cere- 
mony, it  was  a  strange  one.  Perhaps 
it  was  the  second,  third,  or  fourth 
mourning ;  or,  which  was  not  very 
uncommon,  Omai  might  have  misun- 
derstood what  Poulaho  said  to  him. 
For,  excepting  the  change  of  dress 
and  the  putting  the  green  bough 
round  their  necks,  nothing  seemed  to 
have  passed  at  this  meeting  but  what 
we  saw  them  practise  too  frequently 
every  day. 

As  soon  as  this  mourning  ceremony 
was  over,  we  left  Mooa  and  set  out  to 
return  to  the  ships.  While  we  rowed 
down  the  lagoon  or  inlet,  we  met  with 
two  canoes  coming  in  from  fishing. 
Poulaho  ordered  them  to  be  called 
alongside  our  boat,  and  took  from 
them  every  fish  and  shell  they  had 
got.  He  afterwards  stopped  two  other 
canoes  and  searched  them,  but  they 
had  nothing.  Why  this  was  done  I 
cannot  say,  for  we  had  plenty  of  pro- 
visions in  the  boat.  Some  of  this  fish 
he  gave  to  me,  and  his  servants  sold 
the  rest  on  board  the  ship.  As  we 


JULY  1777.]        NATIVES  FIRED  AT  BY  A  SENTINEL. 


proceeded  down  the  inlet  we  over- 
took a  large  sailing  canoe.  Every 
person  on  board  her  that  was  upon 
his  legs  when  we  came  up  sat  down 
till  we  had  passed,  even  the  man 
who  steered,  though  he  could  not 
manage  the  helm,  except  in  a  stand- 
ing posture. 

When  we  got  on  board  the  ship  I 
found  that  everything  had  been  quiet 
during  my  absence,  not  a  theft  having 
been  committed,  of  which  Feenou 
and  Futtafaihe,  the  King's  brother, 
who  had  undertaken  the  management 
of  his  countrymen,  boasted  not  a 
little.  This  shows  what  power  the 
chiefs  have  when  they  have  the  will 
to  execute  it,  which  we  were  seldom 
to  expect,  since  whatever  was  stolen 
from  us  generally,  if  not  always,  was 
conveyed  to  them.  The  good  con- 
duct of  the  natives  was  of  short  dura- 
tion, for  the  next  day  six  or  eight  of 
them  assaulted  some  of  our  people 
who  were  sawing  planks.  They  were 
fired  upon  by  the  sentry,  and  one 
was  supposed  to  be  wounded  and  three 
others  taken.  These  I  kept  confined 
till  night,  and  did  not  dismiss  them 
without  punishment.  After  this  they 
behaved  with  a  little  more  circumspec- 
tion, and  gave  us  much  less  trouble. 
This  change  of  behaviour  was  cer- 
tainly occasioned  by  the  man  being 
wounded,  for  before  they  had  only 
b£en  told  of  the  effect  of  firearms,  but 
now  they  had  felt  it  The  repeated 
insolence  of  the  natives  had  induced 
me  to  order  the  muskets  of  the  sen- 
tries to  be  loaded  with  small  shot, 
and  to  authorise  them  to  fire  on  par- 
ticular occasions.  I  took  it  for  granted, 
therefore,  that  this  man  had  only 
been  wounded  with  small  shot.  But 
Mr  King  and  Mr  Anderson,  in  an  ex- 
cursion into  the  country,  met  with 
him,  and  found  indubitable  marks  of 
his  having  been  wounded,  but  not 
dangerously,  with  a  musket  ball.  I 
never  could  find  out  how  this  musket 
happened  to  be  charged  with  ball, 
and  there  were  people  enough  ready 
to  swear  that  its  contents  were  only 
small  shot. l 


1  Mr  Anderson's  account  of  the  ex- 


139 

I  had  prolonged  my  slay  at  this 
island  on  account  of  the  approaching 
eclipse ;  but  on  the  2d  of  July,  on 
looking  at  the  micrometer  belonging 
to  the  Board  of  Longitude,  I  found 
some  of  the  rack-work  broken,  and 
the  instrument  useless  till  repaired, 
which  there  was  not  time  to  do  before 
it  was  intended  to  be  used.  Prepar- 
ing now  for  our  departure,  I  got  on 
board  this  day  all  the  cattle,  poultry, 
and  other  animals,  except  such  as 
were  destined  to  remain.  1  had  de- 
signed to  leave  a  turkey  cock  and 
hen ;  but  having  now  only  two  of 
each  undisposed  of,  one  of  the  hens, 
through  the  ignorance  of  one  of  my 
people,  was  strangled,  and  died  upon 
the  spot.  I  had  brought  three  tur- 
key hens  to  these  islands.  One  was 
killed  as  above  mentioned  ;  and  the 
other  by  a  useless  dog  belonging  to  one 
of  the  officers.  These  two  ace  idents  put 
it  out  of  my  power  to  leave  a  pair 
here,  and  at  the  same  time  to  carry 
the  breed  to  Otaheite,  for  which  island 
they  were  originally  intended.  I  was 
sorry  afterwards  that  I  did  not  giv* 
the  preference  to  Tongataboo,  as  the 
present  would  have  been  of  more  value 
there  than  at  Otaheite ;  for  the  natives 
of  the  former  island,  I  am  persuaded, 
would  have  taken  more  pains  to  mul- 
tiply the  breed.  The  next  day  we 
took  up  our  anchor,  and  moved  the 
ships  behind  Pangimodoo,  that  we 
might  be  ready  to  take  the  advantage 
of  the  first  favourable  wind  to  get 
through  the  narrows.  The  King,  who 
was  one  of  our  company  this  day  at 
dinner,  I  observed  took  particular 
notice  of  the  plates.  This  occasioned 
me  to  make  him  an  offer  of  one,  either 
of  pewter  or  of  earthenware.  He 
chose  the  first,  and  then  began  to  tell 
us  the  several  uses  to  which  he  in- 
tended to  apply  it.  Two  of  them  are 
so  extraordinary  that  I  cannot  omit 
mentioning  them.  He  said  that, 
whenever  he  should  have  occasion  to 
visit  any  of  the  other  islands,  he 
would  leave  this  plate  behind  him  at 
Tongataboo,  as  a  sort  of  representa- 


cursion  just  mentioned,   containing 
little  or  nothing  new,  is  omitted. 


140 

tive  ill  his  absence,  that  the  people 
might  pay  it  the  same  obeisance  they 
do  to  himself  in  person.  He  was 
asked  what  had  been  usually  employed 
for  this  purpose  before  he  got  this 
plate  ;  and  we  had  the  satisfaction  of 
learning  from  him  that  this  singular 
honour  had  hitherto  been  conferred 
on  a  wooden  bowl  in  which  he  washed 
his  hands.  The  other  extraordinary 
use  to  which  he  meant  to  apply  it,  in 
the  room  of  his  wooden  bowl,  was  to 
discover  a  thief.  He  said  that  when 
anything  was  stolen,  and  the  thief 
could  not  be  found  out,  the  people 
were  all  assembled  together  before 
him,  when  he  washed  his  hands  in 
water  in  this  vessel ;  after  which  it 
was  cleaned,  and  then  the  whole  mul- 
titude advanced,  one  after  another, 
and  touched  it  in  the  same  manner 
that  they  touch  his  foot  when  they 
pay  him  obeisance.  If  the  guilty  per- 
son touched  it,  he  died  immediately 
upon  the  spot,  not  by  violence,  but 
by  the  hand  of  Providence ;  and  if  any 
one  refused  to  touch  it,  his  refusal 
was  a  clear  proof  that  he  was  the  man. 
In  the  morning  of  the  5th,  the  day 
of  the  eclipse,  the  weather  was  dark 
and  cloudy,  with  showers  of  rain,  so 
that  we  had  little  hopes  of  an  obser- 
vation. About  9  o'clock  the  sun 
broke  out  at  intervals  for  about  half- 
an-hour ;  after  which  it  was  totally 
obscured  till  within  a  minute  or  two 
of  the  beginning  of  the  eclipse.  We 
were  all  at  our  telescopes,  viz.,  Mr 
Bayly,  Mr  King,  Captain  Clerke,  Mr 
Bligh,  and  myself.  I  lost  the  obser- 
vation by  not  having  a  dark  glass  at 
hand  suitable  to  the  clouds  that  were 
continually  passing  over  the  sun ;  and 
Mr  Bligh  had  not  got  the  sun  into 
the  field  of  his  telescope  ;  so  that  the 
commencement  of  the  eclipse  was  only 
observed  by  the  other  three  gentle- 
men, and  by  them,  with  an  uncer- 
tainty of  several  seconds,  as  follows  : 

Ho.  Min.  Sec. 

By  Mr  Bayly,  at       11  46  234 
Mr  King,  at        11  46  28 
Capt.  Clerke,  at  11  47    5 
Apparent  time. 

Mr  Bayly  and  Mr  King  observed 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.        [VoY.  III.  B.  II.  CH.  IX. 


with  the  achromatic  telescopes  be- 
longing to  the  Board  of  Longitude,  of 
equal  magnifying  powers  ;  and  Cap- 
tain Clerke  observed  with  one  of  the 
reflectors.  The  sun  appeared  at  in- 
tervals till  about  the  middle  of  the 
eclipse  ;  after  which  it  was  seen  no 
more  during  the  day,  so  that  the  end 
could  not  be  observed.  The  disap- 
pointment was  of  little  consequence, 
since  the  longitude  was  more  than 
sufficiently  determined,  independently 
of  this  eclipse,  by  lunar  observations. 
As  soon  as  we  knew  the  eclipse  to  be 
over,  we  packed  up  the  instruments, 
took  down  the  observatories,  and  sent 
everything  on  board  that  had  not 
been  already  removed.  As  none  of 
the  natives  had  taken  the  least  notice 
or  care  of  the  three  sheep  allotted  to 
Mareewagee,  I  ordered  them  to  be 
carried  back  to  the  ships.  I  was 
apprehensive  that  if  I  had  left  them 
here  they  run  great  risk  of  being  de- 
stroyed by  dogs.  [That  animal  did 
not  exist  upon  this  island  when  I  first 
visited  it  in  1773  ;  but  I  now  found 
they  had  got  a  good  many,  partly 
from  the  breed  then  left  by  myself, 
and  partly  from  some  imported  since 
that  time  from  an  island  not  very  re- 
mote, called  Feejee.  The  dogs,  how- 
ever, at  present  had  not  found  their 
way  into  any  of  the  Friendly  Islands 
except  Tongataboo ;  and  none  but  t^ie 
chiefs  there  had  as  yet  got  possession 
of  any.1 


CHAPTER  IX. 

WE  were  now  ready  to  sail ;  but 
the  wind  being  easterly,  we  had  not 
sufficient  daylight  to  turn  through 
the  narrows,  either  with  the  morning 
or  with  the  evening  flood  ;  the  one 
falling  out  too  early,  and  the  other 
too  late.  So  that,  without  a  leading 
wind,  we  were  under  a  necessity  of 
waiting  two  or  three  days.  I  took 

1  The  remainder  of  the  Chapter, 
taken  up  by  Mr  Anderson's  notes  on 
the  physical  formation  and  features 
and  natural  products  of  Tongataboo 
or  Amsterdam  Island 


JULY  1777.]    SOLEMNITY  IN  HONOUR  OF  KING'S  SON. 


141 


the  opportunity  of  this  delay  to  be 
present  at  a  public  solemnity  to  which 
the  King  had  invited  us  when  we 
went  last  to  visit  him,  and  which,  he 
had  informed  us,  was  to  be  performed 
on  the  8th.  With  a  view  to  this,  he 
and  all  the  people  of  note  quitted  our 
neighbourhood  on  the  7th,  and  re- 
paired to  Mooa,  where  the  solemnity 
was  to  be  exhibited.  A  party  of  us 
followed  them  the  next  morning.  We 
understood  from  what  Poulaho  had 
said  to  us  that  his  son  and  heir  was 
now  to  be  initiated  into  certain  privi- 
leges ;  amongst  which  was  that  of 
eating  with  his  father,  an  honour  he 
had  not  as  yet  been  admitted  to. 

We  arrived  at  Mooa  about  8  o'clock, 
and  found  the  King  with  a  large  circle 
of  attendants  sitting  before  him,  with- 
in an  enclosure  so  small  and  dirty  as 
to  excite  my  wonder  that  any  such 
could  be  found  in  that  neighbourhood. 
They  were  intent  upon  their  usual 
morning  occupation,  in  preparing  a 
bowl  of  "kava."  As  this  was  no 
liquor  for  us,  we  walked  out  to  visit 
some  of  our  friends,  and  to  observe 
what  preparations  might  be  making 
for  the  ceremony  which  was  soon  to 
begin.  About  10  o'clock,  the  people 
began  to  assemble  in  a  large  area 
which  is  before  the  "malaee,"  or  great 
house,  to  which  we  had  been  con- 
ducted the  first  time  we  visited  Mooa. 
At  the  end  of  a  road  that  opens  into 
this  area  stood  some  men  with  spears 
and  clubs,  who  kept  constantly  recit- 
ing or  chanting  short  sentences  in  a 
mournful  tone,  which  conveyed  some 
idea  of  distress,  and  as  if  they  called 
for  something.  This  was  continued 
about  an  hour ;  and  in  the  meantime 
many  people  came  down  the  road, 
each  of  them  bringing  a  yam  tied  to 
the  middle  of  a  pole,  which  they  laid 
down  before  the  persons  who  con- 
tinued repeating  the  sentences.  While 
this  was  going  on,  the  King  and  prince 
arrived,  and  seated  themselves  upon 
the  area  ;  and  we  were  desired  to  sit 
down  by  them,  but  to  pull  off  our 
hats,  and  to  untie  our  hair.  The 
"bearers  of  the  yams  being  all  come 
in,  each  pole  was  taken  up  between 
two  men,  who  carried  it  over  their 


shoulders.  After  forming  themselves 
into  companies  of  ten  or  twelve  per- 
sons each,  they  marched  across  the 
place  with  a  quick  pace ;  each  com- 
pany headed  by  a  man  bearing  a  club 
or  spear,  and  guarded  on  the  right  by 
several  others  armed  with  different 
weapons.  A  man  carrying  a  living 
pigeon  on  a  perch  closed  the  rear  of 
the  procession,  in  which  about  250 
persons  walked. 

Omai  was  desired  by  me  to  ask  the 
chief  to  what  place  the  yams  were  to 
be  thus  carried  with  so  much  solem- 
nity. But,  as  he  seemed  unwilling 
to  give  us  the  information  we  wanted, 
two  or  three  of  us  followed  the  pro- 
cession, contrary  to  his  inclination. 
We  found  that  they  stopped  before  a 
"  morai "  or  "  fiatooka  "  of  one  house, 
standing  upon  a  mount,  which  was 
hardly  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the 
place  where  they  first  assembled. 
Here  we  observed  them  depositing 
the  yams,  and  making  them  up  into 
bundles ;  but  for  what  purpose  we 
could  not  learn.  And  as  our  presence 
seemed  to  give  them  uneasiness,  we 
left  them  and  returned  to  Poulaho, 
who  told  us  we  might  amuse  ourselves 
by  walking  about,  as  nothing  would 
be  done  for  some  time.  The  fear  of 
losing  any  part  of  the  ceremony  pre- 
vented our  being  long  absent.  When 
we  returned  to  the  King,  he  desired 
me  to  order  the  boat's  crew  not  to  stir 
from  the  boat ;  for  as  everything  would 
very  soon  be  "taboo,"  if  any  of  our 
people,  or  of  their  own,  should  be 
found  walking  about,  they  would  be 
knocked  down  with  clubs,  nay,  ' '  ma- 
teed,"  that  is,  killed.  He  also  ac- 
quainted us  that  we  could  not  be 
present  at  the  ceremony ;  but  that  we 
should  be  conducted  to  a  place  where 
we  might  see  everything  that  passed. 
Objections  were  made  to  our  dress. 
We  were  told  that  to  qualify  us  to  be 
present  it  was  necessary  that  we  should 
be  naked  as  low  as  the  breast,  with 
our  hats  off  and  our  hair  untied.  Omai 
offered  to  conform  to  these  requisites, 
and  began  to  strip  ;  other  objections 
were  then  started,  so  that  the  exclu- 
sion w-as  given  to  him  equally  with 
ourselves. 


142 

I  did  not  much  like  this  restriction, 
and  therefore  stole  out  to  see  what 
might  now  be  going  forward.  I 
found  very  few  people  stirring,  except 
those  dressed  to  attend  the  ceremony ; 
some  of  whom  had  in  their  hands 
small  poles  about  four  feet  long,  and 
to  the  under-part  of  these  were  fast- 
ened two  or  three  other  sticks,  not 
bigger  than  one's  finger,  and  about 
six  inches  in  length.  These  men 
were  going  toward  the  "morai  "  just 
mentioned.  I  took  the  same  road, 
and  was  several  times  stopped  by 
them,  all  crying  out  "taboo."  How- 
ever, I  went  forward  without  much 
regarding  them,  till  I  came  in  sight 
of  the  "morai,"  and  of  the  people 
who  were  sitting  before  it.  I  was  now 
urged  very  strongly  to  go  back  ;  and 
not  knowing  what  might  be  the  con- 
sequence of  a  refusal,  I  complied.  I 
had  observed  that  the  people  who 
carried  the  poles  passed  this  "  morai," 
or  what  I  may  as  well  call  temple  ; 
and  guessing  from  this  circumstance 
that  something  was  transacting  beyond 
it  which  might  be  worth  looking  at, 
I  had  thoughts  of  advancing,  by 
making  a  round,  for  this  purpose  ; 
but  I  was  so  closely  watched  by  three 
men  that  1  could  not  put  my  design 
in  execution.  In  order  to  shake  these 
fellows  off,  I  returned  to  the  "ma- 
laee  "  where  I  had  left  the  King,  and 
from  thence  made  an  elopement  a 
second  time  ;  but  I  instantly  met  the 
same  three  men,  so  that  it  seemed  as 
if  they  had  been  ordered  to  watch  my 
motions.  I  paid  no  regard  to  what 
they  said  or  did,  till  I  came  within 
sight  of  the  King's  principal  "  fia- 
tooka"  or  "morai,"  which  I  have 
already  described,1  before  which  a 
great  number  of  men  were  sitting, 
being  the  same  persons  whom  I  had 
just  before  seen  pass  by  the  other 
"morai,"  from  which  this  was  but  a 
little  distant.  Observing  that  I 
could  watch  the  proceedings  of  this 
company  from  the  King's  plantation, 
I  repaired  thither,  very  much  to  the 
satisfaction  of  those  who  attended  me. 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.        [VoT.  I1I.B.II.CH.IX. 


1  In  the  Chapter  immediately  pre- 
ceding. 


As  soon  as  I  got  in,  I  acquainted 
the  gentlemen  who  had  come  with 
me  from  the  ships  with  what  I  had 
seen  ;  and  we  took  a  proper  station 
to  watch  the  result.  The  number  of 
people  at  the  "fiatooka"  continued 
to  increase  for  some  time ;  and  at 
length  we  could  see  them  quit  their 
sitting  posture  and  march  off  in  pro- 
cession. They  walked  in  pairs,  one 
after  another,  every  pair  carrying  be- 
tween them  one  of  the  small  poles 
above  mentioned,  on  their  shoulders. 
We  were  told  that  the  small  pieces  of 
sticks  fastened  to  the  poles  were 
yams ;  so  that  probably  they  were 
meant  to  represent  this  root  emblema- 
tically. The  hindmost  man  of  each 
couple,  for  the  most  part,  placed  one 
of  his  hands  to  the  middle  of  the 
pole,  as  if  without  this  additional 
support  it  were  not  strong  enough  to 
carry  the  weight  that  hung  to  it, 
and  under  which  they  all  seemed 
to  bend  as  they  walked.  This  pro- 
cession consisted  of  108  pairs,  and 
all  or  most  of  them  men  of  rank. 
They  came  close  by  the  fence  behind 
which  we  stood ;  so  that  we  had  a 
full  view  of  them.  Having  waited 
here  till  they  had  all  passed,  we  then 
repaired  to  Poulaho's  house,  and  saw 
him  going  out.  "We  could  not  be 
allowed  to  follow  him ;  but  were 
forthwith  conducted  to  the  place  al- 
lotted, to  us,  which  was  behind  a 
fence  adjoining  to  the  area  of  the 
"  fiatooka"  where  the  yams  had  been 
deposited  in  the  forenoon.  As  we 
were  not  the  only  people  who  were 
excluded  from  being  publicly  present 
at  this  ceremony,  but  allowed  to  peep 
from  behind  the  curtain,  we  had  a 
good  deal  of  company  ;  and  I  ob- 
served that  all  the  other  enclosures 
round  the  place  were  filled  with 
people.  And  yet  all  imaginable  care 
seemed  to  be  taken  that  they  should 
see  as  little  as  possible  ;  for  the  fences 
had  not  only  been  repaired  that  morn- 
ing, but  in  many  places  raised  higher 
than  common,  so  that  the  tallest  man 
could  not  look  over  them.  To  remedy 
this  defect  in  our  station,  we  took 
the  liberty  to  cut  holes  in  the  fenoe 
with  our  knives  ;  and  by  this  mean* 


JULY  1777.]          PROCESSIONS  AND  CEREMONIES. 


we  could  see  pretty  distinctly  every- 
thing that  was  transacting  on  the 
other  side. 

On  our  arrival  at  our  station,  we 
found  two  or  three  hundred  people 
sitting  on  the  grass  near  the  end  of 
the  road  that  opened  into  the  area 
of  the  "morai;"  and  the  number 
continually  increased  by  others  join- 
ing them.  At  length  arrived  a  few 
men  carrying  some  small  poles,  and 
branches  or  leaves  of  the  cocoa-nut 
tree  ;  upon  their  first  appearance  an  old 
man  seated  himself  in  the  road,  and 
with  his  face  toward  them,  pronounced 
a  long  oration  in  a  serious  tone.  He 
then  retired  back,  and  the  others 
advancing  to  the  middle  of  the  area, 
began  to  erect  a  small  shed,  employ- 
ing for  that  purpose  the  materials 
above  mentioned.  When  they  had 
finished  their  work,  they  all  squatted 
down  for  a  moment  before  it,  then 
rose  up  and  retired  to  the  rest  of  the 
company.  Soon  after  came  Poulaho's 
son,  preceded  by  four  or  five  men,  and 
they  seated  themselves  a  little  aside 
from  the  shed,  and  rather  behind  it. 
After  them  appeared  twelve  or  four- 
teen women  of  the  first  rank,  walking 
slowly  in  pairs,  each  pair  carrying 
between  them  a  narrow  piece  of  white 
cloth  extended,  about  two  or  three 
yards  in  length.  These  marched  up 
to  the  prince,  squatted  down  before 
him,  and,  having  wrapped  some  of  the 
pieces  of  the  cloth  they  had  brought, 
round  his  body,  they  rose  up  and  re- 
tired in  the  same  order  to  some  dis- 
tance on  his  left,  and  there  seated 
themselves.  Poulaho  himself  soon 
made  his  appearance,  preceded  by 
four  men,  who  walked  two  and  two 
abreast,  and  sat  down  on  his  son's 
left  hand,  about  twenty  paces  from 
him.  The  young  prince  then  quitting 
his  first  position,  went  and  sat  down 
under  the  shed  with  his  attend- 
ants ;  and  a  considerable  number 
more  placed  themselves  on  the  grass 
before  this  royal  canopy.  The  prince 
himself  sat  facing  the  people,  with 
his  back  to  the  "morai.  '  This 
being  done,  three  companies  of 
ten  or  a  dozen  men  in  each  started 
up  from  amongst  th«  large  crowd,  a 


143 

little  after  each  other,  and  running 
hastily  to  the  opposite  side  of  the 
area,  sat  down  for  a  few  seconds  ; 
after  which  they  returned  in  the 
same  manner  to  their  former  stations. 
To  them  succeeded  two  men,  each  of 
whom  held  a  small  green  branch  in 
his  hand,  who  got  up  and  approached 
the  prince,  sitting  down  for  a  few 
seconds,  three  different  times  as  they 
advanced  ;  and  then,  turning  their 
backs,  retired  in  the  same  manner, 
inclining  their  branches  to  each  other 
as  they  sat.  In  a  little  time  two 
more  repeated  this  ceremony. 

The  grand  procession  which  I  had 
seen  march  off  from  the  other  ' '  moral " 
now  began  to  come  in.  To  judge  of 
the  circuit  they  had  made,  from  the 
time  they  had  been  absent,  it  must 
have  been  pretty  large.  As  they  en- 
tered the  area  they  marched  up  to  the 
right  of  the  shed,  and,  having  pro- 
strated themselves  on  the  grass,  de- 
posited their  pretended  burthens  (the 
poles  above  mentioned),  and  faced 
round  to  the  prince.  They  then  rose 
up  and  retired  in  the  same  order, 
closing  their  hands,  which  they  held 
before  them,  with  the  most  serious 
aspect,  and  seated  themselves  along 
the  front  of  the  area.  During  all  the 
time  that  this  numerous  band  were 
coming  in  and  depositing  their  poles, 
three  men  who  sat  under  the  shed 
with  the  prince  continued  pronouncing 
separate  sentences  in  a  melancholy  tone. 
After  this  a  profound  silence  ensued 
for  a  little  time,  and  then  a  man, 
who  sat  in  the  front  of  the  area,  began 
an  oration  (or  prayer),  during  which, 
at  several  different  times,  he  went 
and  broke  one  of  the  poles  which 
had  been  brought  in  by  those  who  had 
walked  in  procession.  When  he  had 
ended,  the  people  sitting  before  the 
shed  separated  to  make  a  lane  through 
which  the  prince  and  his  attendants 
passed,  and  the  assembly  broke  up. 
Some  of  our  party,  satisfied  with  what 
they  had  already  seen,  now  returned 
to  the  ships  ;  but  I  and  two  or  three 
more  of  the  officers  remained  at  Mooa 
to  see  the  conclusion  of  the  solemnity, 
which  was  not  to  be  till  the  next  day, 
being  desirous  of  omitting  no  oppor- 


144 

tunity  which  might  afford  any  infor- 
mation about  the  religious  or  the  poli- 
tical institutions  of  this  people.  The 
small  sticks  or  poles  which  had  been 
brought  into  the  area  by  those  who 
walked  in  procession,  being  left  lying 
on  the  ground  after  the  crowd  had 
dispersed,  I  went  and  examined  them. 
I  found  that  to  the  middle  of  each  two 
or  three  small  sticks  were  tied,  as 
has  been  related.  Yet  we  had  been 
repeatedly  told  by  the  natives  who 
stood  near  us  that  they  were  young 
yams,  insomuch  that  some  of  our 
gentlemen  believed  them  rather  than 
their  own  eyes.  As  I  had  the  de- 
monstration of  my  senses  to  satisfy 
me  that  they  were  not  real  yams,  it  is 
clear  that  we  ought  to  have  under- 
stood that  they  were  only  the  artificial 
representations  of  these  roots. 

Our  supper  was  got  ready  about  7 
o'clock.  It  consisted  of  fish  and 
yams.  We  might  have  had  pork 
also  ;  but  we  did  not  choose  to  kill  a 
large  hog  which  the  King  had  given 
to  us  for  that  purpose.  He  supped 
with  us,  and  drank  pretty  freely  of 
brandy  and  water;  so  that  he  went 
to  bed  with  a  sufficient  dose.  We 
passed  the  night  in  the  same  house 
with  him  and  several' of  his  attend- 
ants. About  1  or  2  o'clock  in  the 
morning  they  waked  and  conversed 
for  about  an  hour,  and  then  went  to 
sleep  again.  All  but  Poulaho  him- 
self rose  at  day-break,  and  went  I 
know  not  whither.  Soon  after,  a 
woman,  one  of  those  who  generally 
attended  upon  the  chief,  came  in  and 
inquired  where  he  was.  I  pointed 
him  out  to  her,  and  she  immediately 
sat  down  by  him,  and  began  the  same 
operation  which  Mr  Anderson  had 
seen  practised  upon  Futtafaihe,  tap- 
ping or  beating  gently  with  her 
clenched  fists  on  his  thighs.  This, 
instead  of  prolonging  his  sleep  as  was 
intended,  had  the  contrary  effect ; 
however,  though  he  awaked,  he  con- 
tinued to  lie  down.  Omai  and  I  now 
went  to  visit  the  prince,  who  had 
parted  from  us  early  in  the  evening. 
For  he  did  not  lodge  with  the  King, 
but  in  apartments  of  his  own,  or  at 
least  such  as  had  been  allotted  to 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.        [VoY.III.B.II.CH.IX. 


him,  at  some  distance  from  his 
father's  house.  We  found  him  with 
a  circle  of  boys,  or  youths,  about  his 
own  age,  sitting  before  him ;  and  an 
old  woman  and  an  old  man,  who 
seemed  to  have  the  care  of  him,  sit- 
ting behind.  There  were  others,  both 
men  and  women,  employed  about 
their  necessary  affairs  in  different  de- 
partments, who  probably  belonged  to 
his  household. 

From  the  prince  we  returned  to  the 
King.  By  this  time  he  had  got  up, 
and  had  a  crowded  circle  before  him, 
composed  chiefly  of  old  men.  While 
a  large  bowl  of  "kava  "  was  prepar- 
ing, a  baked  hog  and  yams,  smoking 
hot,  were  brought  irx,  the  greatest 
part  of  which  fell  to  our  share,  and 
was  very  acceptable  to  the  boat's 
crew;  for  these  people  eat  very  little 
in  the  morning,  especially  the  "  kava" 
drinkers.  I  afterward  walked  out 
and  visited  several  other  chiefs ;  and 
found  that  all  of  them  were  taking 
their  morning  draught,  or  had  already 
taken  it.  Returning  to  the  King,  I 
found  him  asleep  in  a  small  retired 
hut,  with  two  women  tapping  on  his 
breech.  About  11  o'clock  he  arose 
again ;  and  then  some  fish  and  yams, 
which  tasted  as  if  they  had  been 
stewed  in  cocoa-nut  milk,  were 
brought  to  him.  Of  these  he  ate  a 
large  portion,  and  lay  down  once 
more  to  sleep.  I  now  left  him,  and 
carried  to  the  prince  a  present  of 
cloth,  beads,  and  other  articles,  which 
I  had  brought  with  me  from  the  ship 
for  the  purpose.  There  was  a  suffi- 
cient quantity  of  cloth  to  make  him 
a  complete  suit ;  and  he  was  immedi- 
ately decked  out  with  it.  Proud  of 
his  dress,  he  first  went  to  show  him- 
self to  his  father,  and  then  conducted 
me  to  his  mother ;  with  whom  were 
about  ten  or  a  dozen  other  women  of 
a  respectable  appearance.  Here  the 
prince  changed  his  apparel,  and  made 
me  a  present  of  two  pieces  of  the  cloth 
manufactured  in  the  island.  By  this 
time  it  was  past  noon,  when  by  ap- 
pointment I  repaired  to  the  palace  to 
dinner.  Several  of  our  gentlemen 
had  returned  this  morning  from  the 
ships ;  and  we  were  all  invited  to  the 


JULY  1777.]       CONTINUATION  OF  THE  CEREMONIES. 


feast,  which  was  presently  served  up, 
and  consisted  of  two  pigs  and  yams. 
I  roused  the  drowsy  monarch  to  par- 
take of  what  he  had  provided  for  our 
entertainment.  In  the  meantime 
two  mullets  and  some  shell-fish  were 
"brought  to  him,  as  I  supposed,  for 
•his  separate  portion.  But  he  joined 
it  to  our  fare,  sat  down  with  us,  and 
made  a  hearty  meal. 

When  dinner  was  over,  we  were 
told  that  the  ceremony  would  soon 
begin,  and  were  strictly  enjoined  not 
to  walk  out.  I  had  resolved,  how- 
ever, to  peep  no  longer  from  behind 
the  curtain,  but  to  mix  with  the 
actors  themselves  if  possible.  With 
this  view  I  stole  out  from  the  planta- 
tion, and  walked  toward  the  '  'morai, " 
the  scene  of  the  solemnity.  I  was 
several  times  desired  to  go  back  by 
people  whom  I  met;  but  I  paid  no 
regard  to  them,  and  they  suffered  me 
to  pass  on.  When  I  arrived  at  the 
"morai,"  I  found  a  number  of  men 
seated  on  the  side  of  the  area,  on 
each  side  of  the  road  that  leads 
up  to  it.  A  few  were  sitting  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  area,  and 
two  men  in  the  middle  of  it,  with 
their  faces  turned  to  the  "morai." 
When  I  got  into  the  midst  of  the 
first  company,  I  was  desired  to  sit 
down,  which  I  accordingly  did. 
Where  I  sat  there  were  lying  a  num- 
ber of  small  bundles  or  parcels,  com- 
posed of  cocoa-nut  leaves,  and  tied  to 
eticks  made  into  the  form  of  hand- 
barrows.  All  the  information  I  could 
get  about  them  was  that  they  were 
"taboo."  Our  number  kept  contin- 
tially  increasing;  every  one  coming 
from  the  same  quarter.  From  time 
to  time,  one  or  another  of  the  com- 
pany turned  himself  to  those  who 
were  coming  to  join  us,  and  made  a 
short  speech ;  in  which  I  could  remark 
that  the  word  "arakee,"  that  is,  King, 
was  generally  mentioned.  One  man 
said  something  that  produced  bursts 
of  hearty  laughter  from  all  the  crowd ; 
others  of  the  speakers  met  with  public 
applause.  I  was  several  times  de- 
sired to  leave  the  place ;  and  at  last, 
when  they  found  that  I  would  not  stir, 
after  some  seeming  consultation  they 


145 

applied  to  me  to  uncover  my  shoulders 
as  theirs  were.  With  this  request  I 
complied,  and  then  they  seemed  t*  be 
no  longer  uneasy  at  my  presence. 

I  sat  a  full  hour  without  anything 
more  going  forward,  beside  what  I 
have  mentioned.  At  length  the 
prince,  the  women,  and  the  King  all 
came  in,  as  they  had  done  the  day 
before.  The  prince  being  placed 
under  the  shed,  after  his  father's 
arrival,  two  men,  each  carrying  a 
piece  of  mat,  came  repeating  some- 
thing seriously,  and  put  them  about 
him.  The  assembled  people  now 
began  their  operations;  and  first 
three  companies  ran  backwards  and 
forwards  across  the  area,  as  described 
in  the  account  of  the  proceedings  of 
the  former  day.  Soon  after,  the  two 
men  who  sat  in  the  middle  of  the 
area  made  a  short  speech  or  prayer  ; 
and  then  the  whole  body  amongst 
whom  I  had  my  place  started  up,  and 
ran  and  seated  themselves  before  the 
shed  under  which  the  prince  and  three 
or  four  men  were  sitting.  I  was  now 
partly  under  the  management  of  one 
of  the  company,  who  seemed  very 
assiduous  to  serve  mo.  By  his  means 
I  was  placed  in  such  a  situation,  that 
if  I  had  been  allowed  to  make  use  of 
my  eyes,  nothing  that  passed  could 
have  escaped  me.  But  it  was  neces- 
sary to  sit  with  down-cast  looks,  and 
demure  as  maids.  Soon  after,  the 
procession  came  in,  as  on  the  day 
before ;  each  two  persons  bearing  on 
their  shoulders  a  pole,  round  the 
middle  of  which  a  cocoa-nut  leaf  was 
plaited.  These  were  deposited  with 
ceremonies  similar  to  those  observed 
on  the  preceding  day.  This  first  pro- 
cession  was  followed  by  a  second ;  the 
men  composing  which  brought  baskets 
such  as  are  usually  employed  by  this 
people  to  carry  provisions  in,  and 
made  of  palm  leaves.  These  were 
followed  by  a  third  procession,  in 
Vhich  were  brought  different  kinds 
of  small  fish,  each  fixed  at  the  end  of 
a  forked  stick.  The  baskets  were 
carried  up  to  an  old  man,  whom  I 
took  to  be  the  chief  priest,  and  who 
sat  on  the  prince's  right  hand,  with- 


out the  shed. 


He  held  each  in  his 
K 


a  46 

hand,  while  he  made  a  short  speech 
or  prayer;  then  laid  it  down  and 
called  for  another,  repeating  the  same 
words  as  before;  and  thus  he  went 
through  the  whole  number  of  baskets. 
The  fish  were  presented,  one  by  one, 
on  the  forked  sticks,  as  they  came  in, 
to  two  men  who  sat  on  the  left,  and 
who  till  now  held  green  branches  in 
their  hands.  The  first  fish  they  laid 
down  on  their  right,  and  the  second 
on  their  left.  When  the  third  was 
presented,  a  stout-looking  man  who 
sat  behind  the  other  two  reached  his 
arm  over  between  them  and  made  a 
snatch  at  it;  as  also  did  the  other 
two  at  the  very  same  time.  Thus 
they  seemed  to  contend  for  every  fish 
that  was  presented ;  but  as  there  were 
two  hands  against  one,  besides  the 
advantage  of  situation,  the  man  be- 
hind got  nothing  but  pieces  ;  for  he 
never  quitted  his  hold  till  the  fish  was 
torn  out  of  his  hand,  and  what  little 
remained  in  it  he  shook  out  behind 
him.  The  others  laid  what  they  got 
on  the  right  and  left  alternately.  At 
length,  either  by  accident  or  design, 
the  man  behind  got  possession  of  a 
whole  fish  without  either  of  the  other 
two  so  much  as  touching  it.  At  thjs 
the  word  "  Mareeai,"  which  signifies 
"  Very  good ! "  or  '•  Well  done ! "  was 
uttered  in  a  low  voice  throughout  the 
whole  crowd.  It  seemed  that  he  had 
performed  now  all  that  was  expected 
from  him,  for  he  made  no  attempt 
upon  the  few  fish  that  came  after. 
These  fish,  as  also  the  baskets,  were 
all  delivered,  by  the  persons  who 
brought  them  in,  sitting ;  and  in  the 
same  order  and  manner  the  small 
poles,  which  the  first  procession  car- 
ried, had  been  laid  upon  the  ground. 
The  last  procession  being  closed, 
there  was  some  speaking  or  praying 
by  different  persons.  Then  on  some 
signal  being  given,  we  all  started  up, 
ran  several  paces  to  the  left,  and  sat. 
down  with  our  backs  to  the  prince 
and  the  few  who  remained  with  him. 
I  was  desired  not  to  look  behind  me. 
However,  neither  this  injunction,  nor 
the  remembrance  of  Lot's  wife,  dis- 
couraged me  from  facing  about.  I 
now  saw  that  the  prince  had  turned 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.       [VoY.IILB.IJ.Cn.IX. 


his  face  to  the  "morai:"  lint  this 
last  movement  had  brought  so  many 
people  between  him  and  me,  that  I 
could  not  perceive  what  was  doing. 
I  was  afterward  assured  that  at  this 
very  time  the  prince  was  admitted  to 
the  high  honour  of  eating  with  his 
father,  which  till  now  had  never  been 
permitted  to  him  ;  a  piece  of  roasted 
yam  being  presented  to  each  of  them 
for  this  purpose.  This  was  the  more 
probable,  as  we  had  been  told  before- 
hand that  this  was  to  happen  during 
the  solemnity  ;  and  as  all  the  people 
turned  their  backs  to  them  at  this 
time,  which  they  always  do  when 
their  monarch  eats.  After  some  little 
time  we  all  faced  about,  and  formed  a 
semicircle  before  the  prince,  leaving  a 
large  open  space  between  us.  Presently 
there  appeared  some  men  coming  to- 
ward us,  two  and  two,  bearing  large 
sticks  or  poles  upon  their  shoulders, 
making  a  noise  that  might  be  called 
singing,  and  waving  their  hands  as 
they  advanced.  When  they  had  got 
close  up  to  us,  they  made  a  show  of 
walking  very  fast,  without  proceeding 
a  single  step.  Immediately  after, 
three  or  four  men  started  up  from 
the  crowd,  with  large  sticks  in  their 
hands,  who  ran  toward  those  new- 
comers. The  latter  instantly  threw 
down  the  poles  from  their  shoulders 
and  scampered  off ;  and  the  others 
attacked  the  poles,  and,  having  beat 
them  most  unmercifully,  returned  to 
their  places.  As  the  pole-bearers 
ran  off,  they  gave  the  challenge  that 
is  usual  here  in  wrestling ;  and  not 
long  after,  a  number  of  stout  fellows 
came  from  the  same  quarter,  repeating 
the  challenge  as  they  advanced.  These 
were  opposed  by  a  party  who  came 
from  the  opposite  side  almost  at  the 
same  instant.  The  two  parties  par- 
aded about  the  area  for  a  few  minutes, 
and  then  retired  each  to  their  own 
side.  After  this  there  were  wrestling 
and  boxing  matches  for  about  half-an- 
hour.  Then  two  men  seated  them- 
selves before  the  prince,  and  made 
speeches  addressed,  as  I  thought, 
entirely  to  him.  With  this  the 
solemnity  ended,  and  the  whole  as- 
sembly broke  up. 


JULY  1777.]     REMARKS  ON  NATURE  OF  CEREMONIES. 


147 


I  now  went  and  examined  the  several 
baskets  which  had  been  presented  ;  a 
curiosity  that  I  was  not  allowed  before 
to  indulge,  because  everything  was 
then  "taboo."  But  the  solemnity 
being  now  over,  they  became  simply 
what  I  found  them  to  be,  empty 
baskets.  So  that  whatever  they  were 
supposed  to  contain  was  emblemati- 
cally represented.  And  so  indeed 
was  every  other  thing  which  had  been 
brought  in  procession  except  the  fish. 
We  endeavoured  in  vain  to  find  out 
the  meaning,  not  only  of  the  ceremony 
in  general,  which  is  called  "  Natche," 
but  of  its  different  parts.  We  seldom 
got  any  other  answer  to  our  inquiries, 
but  ' '  Taboo  ; "  a  word  which,  I  have 
before  observed,  is  applied  to  many 
other  things.  But  as  the  prince  was 
evidently  the  principal  person  con- 
cerned in  it ;  and  as  we  had  been 
told  by  the  King,  ten  days  before  the 
celebration  of  the  "  Natche,"  that  the 
people  would  bring  in  yams  for  him 
and  his  son  to  eat  together  ;  and  as  he 
even  described  some  part  of  the  cere- 
mony, we  concluded  from  what  he 
had  then  said,  and  from  what  we  now 
saw,  that  an  oath  of  allegiance,  if  I 
may  so  express  myself,  or  solemn 
promise,  was  op  this  occasion  made 
to  the  prince,  as  the  immediate  suc- 
cessor to  the  regal  dignity,  to  stand 
by  him  and  to  furnish  him  with  the 
several  articles  that  were  here  emble- 
matically represented.  That  seems 
the  more  probable,  as  all  the  principal 
people  of  the  island  whom  we  had 
ever  seen  assisted  in  the  processions. 
But  be  this  as  it  may,  the  whole  was 
conducted  with  a  great  deal  of  mysteri- 
ous solemnity  ;  and  that  there  was  a 
mixture  of  religion  in  the  institution 
was  evident  not  only  from  the  place 
•where  it  was  performed,  but  from  the 
manner  of  performing  it.  Our  dress 
and  deportment  had  never  been  called 
in  question  upon  any  former  occasion 
whatever.  Now  it  was  expected  that 
we  should  be  uncovered  as  low  as  the 
waist ;  that  our  hair  should  be  loose 
and  flowing  over  our  shoulders  ;  that 
we  should  like  themselves  sit  cross- 
legged,  and  at  times  in  the  most 
humble  posture,  with  down-cast  eyes 


and  hands  locked  together  :  all  which 
requisites  were  most  devoutly  observed 
by  the  whole  assembly.  And,  lastly, 
every  one  was  excluded  from  the 
solemnity  but  the  principal  people 
and  those  who  assisted  in  the  celebra- 
tion. All  these  circumstances  were 
to  me  a  sufficient  testimony  that  upon 
this  occasion  they  considered  them- 
selves as  acting  under  the  immediate 
inspection  of  a  Supreme  Being.  The 
present  "Natche  "  may  be  considered, 
from  the  above  account  of  it,  as  merely 
figurative.  For  the  small  quantity 
of  yams  which  we  saw  the  first  day 
could  not  be  intended-  as  a  general 
contribution  ;  and  indeed  we  were 
given  to  understand  that  they  were 
a  portion  consecrated  to  the  "  Otooa," 
or  divinity.  But  we  were  informed 
that  in  about  three  months  there  would 
be  performed,  on  the  same  account, 
a  far  more  important  and  grander 
solemnity ;  on  which  occasion  not 
only  the  tribute  of  Tongataboo,  but 
that  of  Hapaee,  Vavaoo,  and  of  all 
the  other  islands,  would  be  brought 
to  the  chief,  and  confirmed  more  aw- 
fully by  sacrificing  ten  human  victims 
from  amongst  the  inferior  sort  of 
people.  A  horrid  solemnity  indeed  ! 
which  is  a  most  significant  instance 
of  the  influence  of  gloomy  and  ignor- 
ant superstition  over  the  minds  of  one 
of  the  most  benevolent  and  humane 
nations  upon  earth.  On  inquiring 
into  the  reasons  of  so  barbarous  a 
practice,  they  only  said  that  it  was  a 
necessary  part  of  the  "  Natche  ;  " 
and  that  if  they  omitted  it  the  deity 
would  certainly  destroy  their  king. 

Before  the  assembly  broke  up,  the 
day  was  far  spent ;  and  as  we  were  at 
some  distance  from  the  ships,  and  had 
an  intricate  navigation  to  go  through, 
we  were  in  haste,  to  set  put  from  Mooa. 
When  I  took  leave  of  Poulaho,  he  press- 
ed me  much  to  stay  till  the  next  day, 
to  be  present  at  a  funeral  ceremony. 
The  wife  of  Mareewagee,  who  was 
mother-in-law  to  the  King,  had  lately 
died  ;  and  her  corpse  had,  on  account 
of  the  "Natche,  been  carried  on 
board  a  cajioe  that  lay  in  the  lagoon. 
Poulaho  told  me  that  as  soon  as  he 
had  paid  the  last  offices  to  her  he 


148 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.        [YoY.  III.  B.  II.  CH.  IX. 


would  attend  me  to  Eooa  ;  but,  if  I 
did  not  wait,  that  he  would  follow 
me  thither.  I  understood  at  the 
same  time,  that  if  it  had  not  been  for 
the  death  of  this  woman  most  of  the 
chiefs  would  have  accompanied  us  to 
that  island,  where,  it  seems,  all  of 
them  have  possessions.  I  would 
gladly  have  waited  to  see  this  cere- 
mony also,  had  not  the  tide  been  now 
favourable  for  the  ships  to  get  through 
the  narrows.  The  wind,  besides, 
which,  for  several  days  past  had  been 
very  boisterous,  was  now  moderate 
and  settled  ;  and  to  have  lost  this 
opportunity  might  have  detained  us 
a  fortnight  longer.  But,  what  was 
decisive  against  my  waiting,  we  under- 
stood that  the  funeral  ceremonies 
•would  last  five  days  ;  which  was  too 
long  a  time,  as  the  ships  lay  in  such 
a  situation  that  I  could  not  get  to  sea 
at  pleasure.  I  however,  assured  the 
King  that  if  we  did  not  sail  I  should 
certainly  visit  him  again  the  next  day. 
And  so  we  all  took  leave  of  him,  and 
set  out  for  the  ships,  where  we  arrived 
about  8  o'clock  in  the  evening. 

I  had  forgot  to  mention  that  Omai 
was  present  at  this  second  day's  cere- 
mony as  well  as  myself ;  but  we  were 
not  together,  nor  did  I  know  that  he 
was  there  till  it  was  almost  over.  He 
afterwards  told  me  that  as  soon  as  the 
King  saw  that  I  had  stolen  out  from 
the  plantation,  he  sent  several  people 
one  after  another  to  desire  me  to  come 
back.  Probably  these  messengers 
were  not  admitted  to  the  place  where 
I  was  ;  for  I  saw  nothing  of  them. 
At  last  intelligence  was  brought  to 
the  chief  that  1  had  actually  stripped 
in  conformity  to  their  custom  ;  and 
then  he  told  Omai  that  he  might  be 
present  also,  if  he  would  comply  with 
all  the  necessary  forms.  Omai  had 
no  objection,  as  nothing  was  reqiiired 
of  him  but  to  conform  to  the  custom 
of  his  own  country.  Accordingly  he 
was  furnished  with  a  proper  dress,  and 
appeared  at  the  ceremony  as  one  of 
the  natives.  It  is  likely  that  one 
reason  of  our  being  excluded  at  first 
was  an  apprehension  that  we  would 
not  submit  to  the  requisites  to  qualify 
us  to  assist. 


While  I  was  attending  the  "Natche" 
at  Mooa,  I  ordered  the  horses,  bull 
and  cow,  and  goats,  to  be  brought 
thither,  thinking  that  they  would  be 
safer  there,  under  the  eyes  of  the 
chiefs,  than  at  a  place  that  would  be 
in  a  manner  deserted  the  moment 
after  our  departure.  Besides  the 
above-mentioned  animals,  we  left  with 
our  friends  here  a  young  boar  and 
three  young  sows  of  the  English 
breed.  They  were  exceedingly  desir- 
ous of  them,  judging,  no  doubt,  that 
they  would  greatly  improve  their  own 
breed,  which  is  rather  small.  Feenou 
also  got  from  us  two  rabbits,  a  buck, 
and  a  doe;  and  before  we  sailed  we 
were  told-  that  young  ones  had  been 
already  produced.  If  the  cattle  suc- 
ceed, of  which  I  make  no  doubt,  it 
will  be  a  vast  acquisition  to  these 
islands  ;  and  as  Tongataboo  is  a  fine 
level  country,  the  horses  cannot  but 
be  useful. 

[Weighing  anchor  on  the  morning 
of  the  10th,  the  ships  got  with  some 
difficulty  through  the  channel,  and 
did  not  weather  the  east  end  of  Ton- 
gataboo before  10  o'clock  next  night. 
On  the  morning  of  the  12th  they 
anchored  off  Middleburg  Island, 
called  by  the  natives  Eooa,  or  English 
Road — the  name  Cook  had  given  to 
his  station  in  1773.] 

We  had  no  sooner  anchored  than 
Taoofa  the  chief1  and  several  other 
natives  visited  us  on  board,  and  seemed 
to  rejoice  much  at  our  arrival.  In 
a  little  time  I  went  ashore  with  him 
in  search  of  fresh  water,  the  procuring 
of  which  was  the  chief  object  that 
brought  me  to  Eooa.  I  had  been 
told  at  Tongataboo  that  there  was 
here  a  stream  running  from  the  hills 
into  the  sea,  but  this  was  not  the  case 
now.  I  was  first  conducted  to  a 
brackish  spring,  between  low  and  high 
water  mark  amongst  rocks  in  the  cove 
where  we  landed,  and  where  no  one 
would  ever  have  thought  of  looking 
for  what  we  wanted.  However,  I  be- 


1  In  the  account  of  Captain  Cook's 
former  voyage,  he  calls  the  only  chief 
he  then  met  with  at  this  place 
Tioony.— Note  in  Original  Edition. 


JULY  1777.] 


ARRIVAL  AT  EOOA. 


149 


Heve  the  water  of  this  spring  might 
be  good,  were  it  possible  to  take  it  up 
before  the  tide  mixes  with  it.  Find- 
ing that  we  did  not  like  this,  our 
friends  took  us  a  little  way  into  the 
island,  where  in  a  deep  chasm  we 
found  very  good  water,  which,  at  the 
expense  of  some  time  and  trouble, 
might  be  conveyed  down  to  the  shore 
by  means  of  spouts  or  troughs  that 
could  be  made  with  plantain  leaves 
and  the  stem  of  the  tree.  But  rather 
than  undertake  that  tedious  task  I 
resolved  to  rest  contented  with  the 
supply  the  ships  had  got  at  Tongata- 
boo.  Before  I  returned  on  board  I 
set  on  foot  a  trade  for  hogs  and  yams. 
Of  the  former  we  could  procure  but 
few,  but  of  the  latter  plenty.  I  put 
ashore  at  this  island  the  ram  and  two 
ewes  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  breed 
of  sheep,  entrusting  them  to  the  care 
of  Taoofa,  who  seemed  proud  of  his 
charge.  It  was  fortunate,  perhaps,' 
that  Mareewagee,  to  whom  I  had 
given  them,  as  before  mentioned, 
slighted  the  present.  Eooa,  not  having 
as  yet  got  any  dogs  upon  it,  seems  to 
be  a  properer  place  than  Tongataboo 
for  the  rearing  of  sheep.  As  we  lay 
at  anchor,  this  island  bore  a  very  dif- 
ferent aspect  from  any  we  had  lately 
seen,  and  formed  a  most  beautiful 
landscape.  It  is  higher  than  any  we 
had  passed  since  leaving  New  Zea- 
land (as  Kao  may  justly  be  reckoned 
an  immense  rock),  and  from  its  top, 
which  is  almost  flat,  declines  very 
gently  toward  the  sea.  As  the  other 
isles  of  this  cluster  are  level,  the  eye 
can  discover  nothing  but  the  trees 
that  cover  them  ;  but  here  the  land, 
rising  gently  upward,  presents  us 
with  an  extensive  prospect,  where 
groves  of  trees  are  only  interspersed 
at  irregular  distances  in  beautiful 
disorder,  and  the  rest  covered  with 
grass.  Near  the  shore,  again,  it 
is  quite  shaded  with  various  trees, 
amongst  which  are  the  habitations 
of  the  natives ;  and  to  the  right  of 
our  station  was  one  of  the  most  ex- 
tensive groves  of  cocoa-palms  we  had 
ever  seen.  .  .  . 

Soon  after  we  weighed,  and  with  a 
light  breeze  at  SE.  stood  out  to  sea  ; 


and  then  Taoofa  and  a  few  other 
natives  that  were  in  the  ship  left  us. 
On  heaving  up  the  anchor,  we  found 
that  the  cable  had  suffered  consider- 
ably by  the  rocks,  so  that  the  bottom 
in  this  road  is  not  to  be  depended 
upon.  Besides  this,  we  experienced 
that  a  prodigious  swell  rolls  in  there 
from  the  SW.  We  had  not  been  long 
under  sail  before  we  observed  a  sail- 
ing canoe  coming  from  Tongataboo, 
and  entering  the  creek  before  which 
we  had  anchored.  Some  hours  after, 
a  small  canoe,  conducted  by  four 
men,  came  off  to  us,  for  as  we  had  but 
little  wind,  we  were  still  at  no  great 
distance  from  the  land.  These  men 
told  us  that  the  sailing  canoe  whicK 
we  had  seen  arrive  from  Tongataboo. 
had  brought  orders  to  the  people  of 
Eooa  to  furnish  us  with  a  certain 
number  of  hogs,  and  that  in  two 
days  the  King  and  other  chiefs  would 
be  with  us.  They  therefore  desired 
we  would  return  to  our  former  sta- 
tion. There  was  no  reason  to  doubt 
the  truth  of  what  these  men  told  us. 
Two  of  them  had  actually  come  from 
Tongataboo  in  the  sailing  canoe,  and 
they  had  no  view  in  coming  off  to  us 
but  to  give  this  intelligence.  How- 
ever, as  we  were  now  clear  of  the  land, 
it  was  not  a  sufficient  inducement  to 
bring  me  back,  especially  as  we  had 
already  on  board  a  stock  of  fresh  pro- 
visions sufficient  in  all  probability  to 
last  during  our  passage  to  Otaheite. 
Besides  Taoofa's  present,  we  had  got 
a  good  quantity  of  yams  at  Eooa  in 
exchange  chiefly  for  small  nails.  Our 
supply  of  hogs  was  also  considerably 
increased  there,  though  doubtless  we 
should  have  got  many  more  if  the 
chiefs  of  Tongataboo  had  been  with 
us,  whose  property  they  mostly  were. 
At  the  approach  of  night  these  men, 
finding  that  we  would  not  return,  left 
us,  as  also  some  others  who  had  come 
off  in  two  canoes  with  a  few  cocoa- 
nuts  and  shaddocks  to  exchange  them 
for  what  they  could  get;  the  eager- 
ness of  these  people  to  get  into  their 
possession  more  of  our  commodities 
inducing  them  to  follow  the  ships  out 
to  sea,  and  to  continue  their  inter- 
course with  us  to  the  last  moment. 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.         [Voy.  III.  B.  II.  CH.  X 
has  been  already  observed,   lost  be- 

CHAPTER  X.1  fore  I  took  the  resolution  of  bearing 

away  for  these  islands.  But  besides 
the  immediate  advantages  which  both 
the  natives  of  the  Friendly  Islands 
and  ourselves  received  by  this  visit, 
future  navigators  from  Europe,  if  any 
such  should  ever  tread  our  steps,  will 
profit  by  the  knowledge  I  acquired  of 
the  geography  of  this  part  of  the 
Pacific  Ocean  ;  and  the  more  philoso- 
phical reader,  who  loves  to  view 
human  nature  in  new  situations,  and 
to  speculate  on  singular  but  faithful 
representations  of  the  persons,  the 
customs,  the  arts,  the  religion,  the 
government,  and  the  language  of 
uncultivated  man  in  remote  and  fresh 
discovered  quarters  of  the  globe,  will 
perhaps  find  matter  of  amusement,  if 
not  of  instruction,  in  the  information 
which  I  have  been  enabled  to  convey 
to  him  concerning  the  inhabitants  of 
this  archipelago.  I  shall  suspend  my 
narrative  of  the  progress  of  the  voy- 
age, while  I  faithfully  relate  what  I 
had  opportunities  of  collecting  on 
these  several  topics. 

[Best  articles  for  traffic  at  Friendly 
Islands  :  iron,  tools,  and  nails  of  all 
kinds,  red  cloth,  linen,  looking- 
glasses,  and  beads — useful  and  orna- 
mental commodities  not  always  sway- 
ing the  market  with  equal  power, 
though  the  useful  have  generally  the 
"preference.  In  exchange  may  be  pro- 
cured hogs,  fowl,  fish,  yams,  bread-fruit, 
plantains,  cocoa-nuts,  sugar-cane,  and 
everything  that  can  be  got  at  the 
Society  Islands,  though  not  all  of 
equally  good  quality.  Good  water  is 
scarce,  but  indifferent  may  be  had  on 
all  the  islands.] 

Under  the  denomination  of  Friendly 
Islands  we  must  include  not  only 
the  group  at  Hapaee  which  I  visited, 
but  also  all  those  islands  that  have 
been  discovered  nearly  under  the 
same  meridian  to  the  north,  as  well 
as  some  others  that  have  never  been 
seen  hitherto  by  any  European  navi- 
gators, but  are  under  the  dominion 
of  Tongataboo,  which,  though  not 
the  largest,  is  the  capital  and  seat  of 
government.  According  to  the  in- 
formation that  we  received  there,  this 


150 


THUS  we  took  leave  of  the  Friendly 
Islands  and  their  inhabitants,  after  a 
stay  of  between  two  and  three  months, 
during  which  time  we  lived  together 
in  the  most  cordial  friendship.  Some 
accidental  differences,  it  is  true,  now 
and  then  happened,  owing  to  their 
great  propensity  to  thieving,  but  too 
often  encouraged  by  the  negligence  of 
our  own  people.  But  these  differ- 
ences were  never  attended  with  any 
fatal  consequences,  to  prevent  which 
all  my  measures  were  directed  ;  and  I 
believe  few  on  board  our  ships  left 
our  friends  here  without  some  regret. 
The  time  employed  amongst  them 
was  not  thrown  away.  We  expended 
very  little  of  our  sea  provisions,  sub- 
sisting in  general  upon  the  produce 
of  the  islands  while  we  stayed,  and 
carrying  away  with  us  a  quantity  of 
refreshments  sufficient  to  last  till  our 
arrival  at  another  station,  where  we 
could  depend  upon  a  fresh  supply.  I 
was  not  sorry,  besides,  to  have  bad  an 
opportunity  of  bettering  the  condition 
of  these  good  people,  by  leaving  the 
useful  animals  before  mentioned  among 
them  ;  and  at  the  same  time  those 
designed  for  Otaheite  received  fresh 
strength  in  the  pastures  of  Tongata- 
boo. Upon  the  whole,  therefore,  the 
advantages  we  received  by  touching 
here  were  very  great ;  and  I  had  the 
additional  satisfaction  to  reflect  that 
they  were  received  without  retarding 
one'  moment  the  prosecution  of  the 
great  object  of  our  voyage  ;  the  season 
for  proceeding  to  the  north  being,  as 


1  This,  and  the  subsequent  Chapter 
of  Book  II.,  devoted  to  an  account  of 
the  Friendly  Isles  and  their  inhabit- 
ants, although  obstructing  not  a  little 
the  course  of  Cook's  narrative,  have 
been  retained  with  some  unimportant 
or  desirable  omissions,  condensa- 
tions, and  as  giving,  mainly  from  his 
own  pen  and  his  own  observation,  a 
lively  picture  of  one  of  the  great 
Australasian  communities  which  he 
first  unveiled  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
world. 


JULY  1777.]        REMARKS  ON  FRIENDLY  ISLANDS. 


archipelago  is  very  extensive.  Above 
150  islands  were  reckoned  up  to  us  by 
the  natives,  who  made  use  of  bits  of 
leaves  to  ascertain  their  number  ;  and 
Mr  Anderson,  with  his  usual  dili- 
gence, even  procured  all  their  names. 
Fifteen  of  them  are  said  to  be  high  or 
hilly,  such  as  Toofoa  and  Eooa  ;  and 
thirty-five  of  them  large.  Of  these 
only  three  were  seen  this  voyage  : 
Hapaee  (which  is  considered  by  the 
natives  as  one  island),  Tongataboo, 
and  Eooa  ;  of  the  size  of  the  unex- 
plored thirty-two  nothing  more  can 
be  mentioned  but  that  they  must  be 
all  larger  than  Annamooka,  which 
those  from  whom  we  had  our  inform- 
ation ranked  amongst  the  smaller 
isles.  Some,  or  indeed  several,  of 
this  latter  denomination  are  mere 
spots  without  inhabitants.1 

I  have  not  the  least  doubt  that 
Prince  William's  Islands,  discovered 
and  so  named  by  Tasman,  are  in- 
cluded in  the  foregoing  list.  For 
while  we  lay  at  Hapaee,  one  of  the 
natives  told  me  that  three  or  four 
days'  sail  from  thence  to  the  NW. 
there  was  a  cluster  of  small  islands 
consisting  of  upwards  of  forty.  This 
situation  corresponds  very  well  with 
that  assigned,  in  the  accounts  we 
have  of  Tasman 's  voyage,  to  his  Prince 
"William's  Islands.2 

We  have  also  very  good  authority 
to  believe  that  Keppel's  and  Bos- 
cawen's  Islands,  two  of  Captain 
Wallis's  discoveries  in  1765,  are  com- 
prehended in  our  list  ;  and  that  they 
are  not  only  well  known  to  these 
people,  but  are  under  the  same  sove- 
reign. The  following  information 


1  Follows  in  the  original  a  list  of 
ninety-five  islands  of  the  group,  men- 
tioned   by  the    inhabitants    of    the 
islands  which  Cook  visited  ;   but  we 
mercifully  spare  the  reader  the  inflic- 
tion of  the  soft  but  unwieldy  poly- 
syllables. 

2  Tasman  saw  eighteen  or  twenty 
of  these  small  islands,  every  one  of 
which  was    surrounded  with  sands, 
shoals,    and   rocks.      They  are   also 
called,  in  some  charts,  Heemskirk's 
Banks. — Note  in  Original  Edition. 


151 

seemed  to  me  decisive  as  to  thia. 
Upon  my  inquiring  one  day  of  Pou- 
laho,  the  King,  in  what  manner  the 
inhabitants  of  Tongataboo  had  ac- 
quired the  knowledge  of  iron,  and  from 
what  quarter  they  had  procured  a  small 
iron  tool  which  I  had  seen  amongst 
them  when  I  first  visited  their  island 
during  my  former  voyage,  he  informed 
me  that  they  had  received  this  iron 
from  an  island  which  he  called  Nee- 
ootabootaboo.  Carrying  my  inquiries 
further,  I  then  desired  to  know 
whether  he  had  ever  been  informed 
from  whom  the  people  of  Neeoota- 
bootaboo  had  got  it.  I  found  him 
perfectly  acquainted  with  its  history. 
He  said  that  one  of  these  islanders 
sold  a  club  for  five  nails  to  a  ship 
whtch  had  touched  there,  and  that 
these  five  nails  afterwards  were  sent 
to  Tongataboo.  He  added  that  this 
was  the  first  iron  known  amongst 
them  ;  so  that  what  Tasman  left  of 
that  metal  must  have  been  worn  out 
and  forgotten  long  ago.  I  was  very 
particular  in  my  inquiries  about  the 
situation,  size,  and  form  of  the  island  ; 
expressing  my  desire  to  know  when 
this  ship  had  touched  there,  how 
long  she  stayed,  and  whether  any 
more  were  in  company.  The  leading 
facts  appeared  to  be  fresh  in  his 
memory.  He  said  that  there  was  but 
one  ship ;  that  she  did  not  come 
to  an  anchor,  but  left  the  island 
after  her  boat  had  been  on  shore. 
And  from  many  circumstances  which 
he  mentioned,  it  could  not  be  many 
years  since  this  had  happened.  Ac« 
cording  to  his  information,  there  are 
two  islands  near  each  other,  which 
he  himself  had  been  at.  The  one  he 
described  as  high  and  peaked  like 
Kao,  and  he  called  it  Kootahee  ;  the 
other,  where  the  people  of  the  ship 
landed,  called  Neeootabootaboo,  ho 
represented  as  much  lower.  He 
added  that  the  natives  of  both  are  the 
same  sort  of  people  with  those  of  Ton- 
gataboo, built  their  canoes  in  the 
same  manner,  that  their  islands  had 
hogs  and  fowls,  and  in  general  the 
same  vegetable  productions.  _  The 
ship  so  pointedly  referred  to  in  thia 
conversation  could  be  no  other  than 


152 

the  Dolphin ;  the  only  single  ship 
from  Europe,  as  far  as  we  have  ever 
learned,  that  had  touched  of  late 
years  at  any  island  in  this  part  of  the 
Pacific  Ocean  prior  to  my  former  visit 
to  the  Friendly  Islands.1 

But  the  most  considerable  islands 
in  this  neighbourhood  that  we  now 
heard  of  (and  we  heard  a  great  deal 
about  them)  are  Hamoa,  Vavaoo,  and 
Feejee.  Each  of  these  was  represented 
to  us  as  larger  than  Tongataboo. 
No  European  that  we  know  of  has  as 
yet  seen  any  one  of  them.  Tasman, 
indeed,  lays  down  in  his  chart  an 
island  nearly  in  the  situation  where  I 
suppose  Vavaoo  to  be  ;  that  is,  about 
the  Latitude  of  19°.  But  then  that 
island  is  there  marked  as  a  very  small 
one  ;  whereas  Vavaoo,  according  to 
the  united  testimony  of  all  our  friends 
at  Tongataboo,  exceeds  the  size  of 
their  own  island^  and  has  high  moun- 
tains. I  should  certainly  have  visited 
it,  and  have  accompanied  Feenou  from 
Hapaee,  if  he  had  not  then  discour- 
aged me  by  representing  it  to  be  very 
inconsiderable  and  without  any  har- 
bour. But  Poulaho,  the  King,  after- 
wards assured  me  that  it  was  a  large 
island,  and  that  it  not  only  produced 
everything  in  common  with  Tonga- 
taboo,  but  had  the  peculiar  advantage 
of  possessing  several  streams  of  fresh 
water,  with  as  good  a  harbour  as  that 
which  we  found  at  his  capital  island. 
He  offered  to  attend  me  if  I  would 
visit  it ;  adding  that  if  I  did  not  find 
everything  agreeing  with  his  repre- 
sentation, I  might  kill  him.  1  had 
not  the  least  doubt  of  the  truth  of  his 

1  See  Captain  Wallis's  voyage,  in 
Hawkesworth's  Collection.  Captain 
Wallis  there  calls  both  these  islands 
high  ones.  But  the  superior  height 
of  one  of  them  may  be  inferred  from 
his  saying  that  it  appears  like  a  sugar- 
loaf.  This  strongly  marks  its  re- 
semblance to  Kao.  From  comparing 
Poulaho's  intelligence  to  Captain 
Cook,  with  Captain  Wallis's  account, 
it  seems  to  be  past  all  doubt  that 
Boscawen's  Island  is  our  Kootahee, 
and  Keppel's  Island  our  Neeootaboo- 
taboo. — Aote  in  Original  Edition. 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.          [VoY.  III.  B.  II.  Cu.  X. 

intelligence ;  and  was  satisfied  that 
Feenou,  from  some  interested  view, 
attempted  to  deceive  me. 

Hamoa,  which  is  also  under  the 
dominion  of  Tongataboo,  lies  two 
days'  sail  NW.  from  Vavaoo.  It  wa.s 
described  to  me  as  the  largest  of  all 
their  islands,  as  affording  harbours 
and  good  water,  and  as  producing  in 
abundance  every  article  of  refresh- 
ment found  at  the  places  we  visited. 
Poulaho  himself  frequently  resides 
there.  It  should  seem  that  the 
people  of  this  island  are  in  high  esti- 
mation at  Tongataboo,  for  we  were 
told  that  some  of  the  songs  and  dancca 
with  which  we  were  entertained  had 
been  copied  from  theirs,  and  we  saw 
some  houses  said  to  be  built  after 
their  fashion. 

Feejee,  as  we  were  told,  lies  three 
days'  sail  from  Tongataboo  in  the 
direction  of  NW.  by  W.  It  was 
described  to  us  as  a  high  but  very 
fruitful  island,  abounding  with  hogs, 
dogs,  fowls,  and  all  kinds  of  fruit 
and  roots  that  are  found  in  any  of 
the  others,  and  as  much  larger  than 
Tongataboo,  to  the  dominion  of  which, 
as  was  represented  to  us,  it  is  not 
subject,  as  the  other  islands  of  this 
archipelago  are.  On  the  contrary, 
Feejee  and  Tongataboo  frequently 
make  war  upon  each  Bother;  and  it 
appeared  from  several  circumstances 
that  the  inhabitants  of  the  latter  are 
much  afraid  of  this  enemy.  They 
used  to  express  their  sense  of  their 
own  inferiority  to  the  Feejee  men  by 
bending  their  body  forward,  and 
covering  the  face  with  their  hands. 
And  it  is  no  wonder  that  they  should 
be  under  this  dread,  for  those  of 
Feejee  are  formidable  on  account  of 
the  dexterity  with  which  they  use 
their  bows  and  slings,  but  much  more 
so  on  account  of  the  savage  practice 
to  whicli  they  are  addicted,  like  those 
of  New  Zealand,  of  eating  their  ene- 
mies whom  they  kill  in  battle.  We 
were  satisfied  that  this  was  not  a  mis- 
representation ;  for  we  met  with  seve- 
ral Feejee  people  at  Tongataboo,  and 
on  inquiring  of  them  they  did  not 
deny  the  charge. 

Now  that  I  am  again  led  to  speak 


JULY  1777, 


NATIVES  OF  FEEJEE. 


153 


of  cannibals,  let  me  ask  those  who 
maintain  that  the  want  of  food  first 
brings  men  to  feed  on  human  flesh, 
What  is  it  that  induceth  the  Feejee 
people  to  keep  it  up  in  the  midst  of 
plenty  ?  This  practice  is  detested 
very  much  by  those  of  Tongataboo, 
who  cultivate  the  friendship  of  their 
savage  neighbours  of  Feejee  apparently 
out  of  fear,  though  they  sometimes 
venture  to  skirmish  with  them  on 
their  own  ground,  and  carry  off  red 
feathers  as  their  booty,  which  are  in 
great  plenty  there,  and,  as  has  been 
frequently  mentioned,  are  in  great 
estimation  amongst  our  Friendly  Js- 
landers.  When  the  two  islands  are 
at  peace,  the  intercourse  between 
them  seems  to  be  pretty  frequent, 
though  they  have  doubtless  been  but 
lately  known  to  each  other,  or  we 
may  suppose  that  Tongataboo  and  its 
adjoining  islands  would  have  been 
supplied  before  this  with  a  breed  of 
dogs  which  abound  at  Feejee,  and 
had  not  been  introduced  at  Tonga- 
taboo  so  late  as  1773,  when  I  first 
visited  it.  The  natives  of  Feejee 
whom  we  met  with  here  were  of  a 
colour  that  was  a  full  shade  darker 
tli  an  that  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Friendly  Islands  in  general.  One  of 
them  had  his  left  ear  slit,  and  the 
lobe  was  so  distended  that  it  almost 
reached  his  shoulder,  which  singu- 
larity I  had  met  with  at  other  islands 
of  the  South  Sea  during  my  second 
voyage.  It  appeared  to  me  that  the 
Feejee  men  whom  we  now  saw  were 
much  respected  here,  not  only  per- 
haps from  the  power  and  cruel  man- 
ner of  their  nation's  going  to  war, 
but  also  from  their  ingenuity.  For 
they  seem  to  excel  the  inhabitants  of 
Tongataboo  in  that  respect,  if  we 
might  judge  from  several  specimens 
of  their  skill  in  workmanship  which 
we  saw,  such  as  clubs  and  spears, 
which  were  carved  in  a  very  masterly 
manner,  cloth  beautifully  chequered, 
variegated  mats,  earthen  pots,  and 
some  other  articles,  all  which  had  a 
cast  of  superiority  in  the  execution. 

I  have  mentioned  that  Feejee  lies 
three  days'  sail  from  Tongataboo, 
because  these  people  have  no  other 


method  of  measuring  the  distance 
from  island  to  island  but  by  express- 
ing the  time  required  to  make  the 
voyage  in  one  of  their  canoes.  In 
order  to  ascertain  this  with  some  pre- 
cision, or  at  least  to.  form  some  judg- 
ment how  far  these  canoes  can  sail  in 
a  moderate  gale  in  any  given  time,  I 
went  on  board  one  of  them  when 
under  sail,  and  by  several  trials  with 
the  log  found  that  she  went  seven 
knots  or  miles  in  an  hour,  close-hauled 
in  a  gentle  gale.  From  this  I  judge 
that  they  will  sail  on  a  medium,  with 
such  breezes  as  generally  blow  in  their 
sea,  about  seven  or  eight  miles  in  an 
hour.  But  the  length  of  each  day  is 
not  to  be  reckoned  at  twenty-four 
hours ,  for  when  they  spoke  of  one 
day's  sail,  they  mean  no  more  than 
from  the  morning  to  the  evening  of 
the  same  day — that  is,  ten  or  twelve 
hours  at  most ;  and  two  days'  sail 
with  them  signifies  from  the  morning 
of  the  first  day  to  the  evening  of  the 
second  ;  and  so  for  any  other  number 
of  days.  In  these  navigations  the 
sun  is  their  guide  by  day,  and  the 
stars  by  night.  When  these  are  ob- 
scured they  have  recourse  to  the  points 
from  whence  the  winds  and  the  waves 
come  upon  the  vessel.  If  during  the 
obscuration  both  the  wind  and  the 
waves  should  shift  (which,  within  the 
limits  of  the  trade- wind,  seldom  hap- 
pens at  any  other  time),  they  are  then 
bewildered,  frequently  miss  their  in- 
tended port,  and  are  never  heard  of 
more.  The  history  of  Omai's  coun- 
trymen, who  were  driven  to  Wateeoo, 
leads  us  to  infer  that  those  not  heard 
of  are  not  always  lost. 

Of  all  the  harbours  and  anchoring 
places  I  have  met  with  amongst  these 
islands,  that  of  Tongataboo  is  by  far 
the  best,  not  only  on  account  of  its 
great  security,  but  of  its  capacity, 
and  of  the  goodness  of  its  bottom. 
Although  Tongataboo  has  the  best 
harbour,  Annamooka  furnishes  the 
best  water,  and  yet  it  cannot  be  called 
good.  However,  by  digging  holes 
near  the  side  of  the  pond  we  can  get 
what  may  be  called  tolerable.  This 
island,  too,  is  the  best  situated  for 
drawing  refreshments  from  all  the 


154 

others,  as  being  nearly  in  the  centre 
of  the  whole  group. 

It  may  be  expected  that  after  spend- 
ing between  two  and  three  months 
amongst  the  [natives]  I  should  be 
enabled  to  give  a  tolerably  satisfactory 
account  of  their  customs,  opinions, 
and  institutions,  both  civil  and  reli- 
gious, especially  as  we  had  a  person 
on  board  who  might  be  supposed 
qualified  to  act  the  part  of  an  inter- 
preter, by  understanding  their  lan- 
guage and  others.  But  poor  Omai 
was  very  deficient;  for  unless  the 
object  or  thing  we  wanted  to  inquire 
about  was  actually  before  us,  we  found 
it  difficult  to  gain  a  tolerable  know- 
ledge of  it  from  information  only, 
without  falling  into  a  hundred  mis- 
takes, and  to  such  mistakes  Omai 
was  more  liable  than  we  Avere  ;  for 
having  no  curiosity,  he  never  gave 
himself  the  trouble  to  make  remarks 
for  himself;  and  when  he  was  dis- 
posed to  explain  matters  to  us,  his 
ideas  appeared  to  be  so  limited,  and 
perhaps  so  different  from  ours,  that 
his  accounts  were  often  so  confused 
as  to  perplex  instead  of  instructing 
us.  Add  to  this,  that  it  was  very 
rare  that  we  found  amongst  the  na- 
tives a  person  who  united  the  ability 
and  the  inclination  to  give  us  the 
information  we  wanted ;  and  we  found 
that  most  of  them  hated  to  be  troubled 
with  what  they  probably  thought  idle 
questions.  Our  situation  at  Tongata- 
boo,  where  we  remained  the  longest, 
was  likewise  unfavourable.  It  was 
in  a  part  of  the  country  where  there 
were  few  inhabitants  except  fishers. 
It  was  always  holiday  with  our  visit 
ors,  as  well  as  with  those  we  visited  ; 
so  that  we  had  but  few  opportunities 
of  observing  what  was  really  the  do- 
mestic way  of  living  of  the  natives. 
Under  these  disadvantages  it  is  not 
surprising  that  we  should  not  be  able 
to  bring  away  witli  us  satisfactory 
accounts  of  many  things  ;  but  some 
of  us  endeavoured  to  remedy  those 
disadvantages  by  diligent  observation ; 
and  I  am  indebted  to  Mr  Anderson 
for  a  considerable  share  of  what  fol- 
lows in  this  and  in  the  following 
Chapter. 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.         [VoY.III.  B.II.CH.X. 


The  natives  of  the  Friendly  Islands 
seldom  exceed  the   common   stature 
(though  we  have  measured  some  who 
were   above   six   feet),   but  are  very 
strong  and  well  made,  especially  as 
to  their  limbs.     They  are  generally 
broad  about  the  shoulders,  and  though 
the  muscular  disposition  of  the  men, 
which  seems  a  consequence  of  much 
action,  rather  conveys  the  appearance 
of  strength  than  of  beauty,  there  are 
several  to   be    seen   who   are   really 
handsome.     Their  features  are  very 
various,  insomuch  that  it  is  scarcely 
possible  to  fix  on  any  general  likeness 
by  which  to  characterise  them,  unless 
it  be   a  fulness  at  the  point  of  the 
nose,  which  is  very  common.     But, 
on  the  other  hand,  we  met  with  hun- 
dreds of  truly  European  faces,   and 
many  genuine  Roman  noses  amongst 
them.    Their  eyes  and  teeth  are  good, 
but  the  last  neither  so   remarkably 
white  nor  so  well  set  as  is  often  found 
amongst  Indian  nations,   though,  to 
balance  that,  few  of  them  have  any 
uncommon  thickness  about  the  lips, 
a  defect  as  frequent  as  the  other  per- 
fection.    The  women  are  not  so  much 
distinguished  from  the  men  by  their 
features   as   by  their  general   form, 
which  is  for  the  most  part  destitute 
of  that  strong  fleshy  firmness  that 
appears  in  the  latter.      Though  the 
features    of    some    are    so    delicate 
as   not  only   to   be  a  true  index  of 
their  sex,  but  to  lay  claim  to  a  con- 
siderable share  of  beauty  and  expres- 
sion,   the   rule  is  by   no  means   so 
general  as  in  many  other  countries. 
But  at  the  same  time  this  is  frequently 
the  most  exceptionable  part,  for  the 
bodies   and  limbs    of    most   of    the 
females   are  well   proportioned,   and 
some  absolutely  perfect  models  of  a 
beautiful  figure.      But  the  most  re- 
markable distinction  in  the  women  is 
the  uncommon  smallness   and  deli- 
cacy of  their  fingers,  which  may  be 
put  in  competition  with  the  finest  in 
Europe. 

The  general  colour  is  a  cast  deeper 

than  the  copper  brown,  but  several  of 

the  men  and  women  have  a  true  olive 

complexion  ;  and  some  of  the  last  aro 

j  even  a  great  deal  fairer,  which  is  prolv 


JULY  1777.]      OF  THE  MORE  PREVALENT  DISEASES. 


ably  the  effect  of  being  less  exposed 
to  the  sun,  as  a  tendency  to  corpulence 
in  a  few  of  the  principal  people  seems 
to  be  the  consequence  of  a  more  in- 
dolent life.     It  is  also  amongst  the 
last  that  a  soft  clear  skin  is  most  fre- 
quently observed.    Amongst  the  bulk 
of  the  people  the  skin  is  more  com- 
monly of  a  dull  hue,  with  some  degree 
of  roughness,  especially  the  parts  that 
are  not  covered,  which  perhaps  may 
be  occasioned  by  some  cutaneous  dis- 
ease.    We  saw  a  man  and  boy  at  Ha- 
paee,  and  a  child  at  Annamooka,  per- 
fectly white.     Such  have  been  found 
amongst  all  black  nations,  but  I  ap- 
prehend that  their  colour  is  rather  a 
disease  than  a  natural  phenomenon. 
There    are,    nevertheless,    upon    the 
whole,  few  natural  defects  or  defor- 
mities to  be  found  amongst  them, 
though   we  saw   two   or  three  with 
their   feet    bent   inward,    and    some 
afflicted  with  a  sort  of  blindness  oc- 
casioned by  a  disease  of  the  cornea. 
Neither  are  they  exempt  from  some 
other  diseases,  the  most  common  of 
which  is  the  tetter,  or  ring-worm, 
that  seems  to  affect  almost  one-half 
of  them,  and  leaves  whitish  serpentine 
marks   everywhere  behind  it.      But 
this  is  of  less  consequence  than  an- 
other disease  which  is  very  frequent, 
and  appears  on  every  part  of  the  body 
in  large  broad  ulcers  with  thick  white 
edges,  discharging  a  thin,  clear  mat- 
ter, some  of  which  had  a  very  virulent 
appearance,  particularly  those  on  the 
face,  which  were  shocking  to  look  at. 
And    yet  we  met  with    some    who 
seemed  to  be  cured  of  it,  and  others 
in  a  fair  way  of  being  cured  ;  but  this 
was  not  effected  without  the  loss  oi 
the  nose,  or  of  the  best  part  of  it.    As 
we  know  for  a  certainty1  (and  the 
fact  is  acknowledged  by  themselves' 
that  the  people  of  these  islands  were 
subject  to  this  loathsome  disease  be- 
fore the  English  first  visited  them, 
notwithstanding    the    similarity    o 


1  Captain  Cook,  in  the  account  o 
his  Second  Voyage,  gives  a  particulai 
account  of  meeting  with  a  person 
afflicted  with  this  disease  at  Anna 
mooka  on  his  landing  there  in  1773. 


155 

symptoms,  it  cannot  be  the  effect  oi 
he  venereal    contagion,    unless    we 
idopt  a  supposition,  which  I  could 
wish    had    sufficient   foundation    in 
Tilth,  that  the  venereal  disorder  was 
not  introduced  here  from  Europe  by 
our  ships  in  1773.     It  assuredly  was 
now  found  to  exist  amongst  them,  for 
we  had  not  been  long   there  before 
some  of  our  people  received  the  infec- 
tion ;  and  I  had  the  mortification  to 
earn  from  thence  that  all  the  care  I 
;ook  when  I  first  visited  these  islands 
to  prevent  this  dreadful  disease  from 
being  communicated  to  their  inhabit- 
ants had  proved  ineffectual.    What  is 
extraordinary,  they  do  not  seem  to 
regard  it  much  ;  and  as  we  saw  few 
signs  of  its  destroying  effects,  prob- 
ably the  climate  and  the  way  of  living 
of  these  people  greatly  abate  its  viru- 
lence.     [Two  other  diseases  are  fre- 
quent amongst  them.  ]     But  in  other 
respects  they  may  be  considered  as 
uncommonly  healthy,    not   a  single 
person  having  been  seen  during  our 
stay  confined  to  the  house  by  sickness 
of  any  kind.      On  the  contrary,  their 
strength  and  activity  are  every  way 
answerable  to  their  muscular  appear- 
ance ;  and  they  exert  both  in  their 
usual  employment  and  in  their  diver- 
sions, in  such  a  manner  that  there 
can  be  no  doubt  of  their  being  as  yet 
little  debilitated    by  the   numerous 
diseases  that  are  the  consequence  of 
indolence  and  an  unnatural  method 
of  life.      The  graceful  air  and  firm 
step  with  which  these  people  walk  are 
not  the  least  obvious  proof  of  their 
personal  accomplishments.   They  con- 
sider this  as  a  thing  so  natural  or  so 
necessary  to  be  acquired  that  nothing 
used  to  excite  their  laughter  sooner 
than  to  see  us  frequently  stumbling 
upon  the  roots  of  trees  or  other  in- 
equalities of  the  ground. 

Their  countenances  very  remarkably 
express  the  abundant  mildness  or 
good-nature  which  they  possess,  and 
are  entirely  free  from  that  savage 
keenness  which  marks  nations  in  a 
barbarous  state.  One  would  indeed 
be  apt  to  fancy  that  they  had  been 
bred  up  under  the  severest  restric- 
tions to  acquire  an  aspect  so  settled, 


156 

and  such  a  command  of  their  pas- 
sions, as  well  as  steadiness  in  conduct. 
But  they  are  at  the  same  time  frank, 
cheerful,  and  good-humoured,  though 
sometimes  in  the  presence  of  their 
chiefs  they  put  on  a  degree  of  gravity 
and  such  a  serious  air  as  becomes  stiff 
and  awkward,  and  has  an  appearance 
of  reserve.  Their  peaceable  disposi- 
tion is  sufficiently  evinced  from  the 
friendly  reception  all  strangers  have 
met  with  who  have  visited  them. 
Instead  of  offering  to  attack  them 
openly  or  clandestinely,  as  has  been 
the  case  with  most  of  the  inhabitants 
of  these  seas,  they  have  never  appeared 
in  the  smallest  degree  hostile ;  but  on 
the  contrary,  like  the  most  civilised 
people,  have  courted  an  intercourse 
with  their  visitors  by  bartering,  which 
is  the  only  medium  that  unites  all 
nations  in  a  sort  of  friendship.  They 
understand  barter  (which  they  call 
"fukkatou")  so  perfectly  that  at 
first  we  imagined  they  might  have 
acquired  this  knowledge  of  it  by  com- 
mercial intercourse  with  the  neigh- 
bouring islands,  but  we  were  afterward 
assured  that  they  had  little  or  no 
traffic  except  with  Feejee,  from  which 
they  get  the  red  feathers  and  the  few 
other  articles  mentioned  before.  Per- 
haps lio  nation  in  the  world  traffic 
with  more  honesty  and  less  distrust. 
We  could  always  safely  permit  them 
to  examine  our  goods,  and  to  hand 
them  about  one  to  another  ;  and  they 
put  the  same  confidence  in  us.  If 
either  party  repented  of  the  bargain, 
the  goods  were  re-exchanged  with 
mutual  consent  and  good-humour. 
Upon  the  whole,  they  seem  possessed 
of  many  of  the  most  excellent  quali- 
ties that  adorn  the  human  mind,  such 
as  industry,  ingenuity,  perseverance, 
affability,  and  perhaps  other  virtues 
which  our  short  stay  with  them  might 
prevent  our  observing.  The  only  de- 
fect sullying  their  character  that  we 
know  of  is  a  propensity  to  thieving, 
to  which  we  found  those  of  all  ages 
and  both  sexes  addicted,  and  to  an 
uncommon  degree. 

Their  hair  is  in  general  straight, 
thick,  and  strong,  though  a  few  have 
it  bushy  or  frizzled.  The  natural 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.         [VoY.  III.  B.  II.  CH.  X. 


colour,  I  believe,  almost  without  ex- 
ception, is  black ;  but  the  greatest 
part  of  the  men  and  some  of  the 
women  have  it  stained  of  a  brown  or 
purple  colour,  and  a  few  of  an  orange 
cast.  The  first  colour  is  produced  by- 
applying  a  sort  of  plaster  of  burned 
coral  mixed  with  water ;  the  second  by 
the  raspings  of  a  reddish  wood,  which 
is  made  up  with  water  into  a  poultice 
and  laid  over  the  hair  ;  and  the  third 
is,  I  believe,  the  effect  of  turmeric 
root.  When  I  first  visited  these 
islands  I  thought  it  had  been  a  uni- 
versal custom  for  both  men  and  women 
to  wear  the  hair  short,  but  during  our 
present  longer  stay  we  saw  a  great 
many  exceptions.  Indeed  they  are  so 
whimsical  in  their  fashions  of  wearing 
it  that  it  is  hard  to  tell  which  is  most 
in  vogue.  Some  have  it  cut  off  one 
side  of  the  head,  while  that  on  the 
other  side  remains  long ;  some  have 
only  a  portion  of  it  cut  short  or  per- 
haps shaved  ;  others  have  it  entirely 
cut  off  except  a  single  lock,  which  is 
left  commonly  on  one  side ;  or  it  is 
suffered  to  grow  to  its  full  length  with- 
out any  of  these  mutilations.  The 
women  in  general  wear  it  short.  The 
men  have  their  beards  cut  short,  and 
both  men  and  women  strip  the  hair 
from  their  arm-pits.  The  operation 
by  which  this  is  performed  has  been 
already  described.1  The  men  are 
stained  from  about  the  middle  of  the 
belly  to  about  half  way  down  the 
thighs  with  a  deep  blue  colour.  This 
is  done  with  a  flat  bone  instrument 
cut  full  of  fine  teeth,  which,  being 
dipped  in  the  staining  mixture  pre- 
pared from  the  juice  of  the  "dooe 
dooe,"  is  struck  into  the  skin  with  a 
bit  of  stick,  and  by  that  means  indel- 
ible marks  are  made.  In  this  manner 
they  trace  lines  and  figures,  which  in 
some  are  very  elegant,  both  from  the 
variety  and  from  the  arrangement. 
The  women  have  only  a  few  small 
lines  or  spots  thus  imprinted  on  the 
inside  of  their  hands.  Their  kings, 
as  a  mark  of  distinction,  are  exempted 
from  this  custom,  as  also  from  inflict- 


In  Chapter  VI.  of  this  Book, 


JULY  1777.]  CLEANLINESS  OF  THE  NATIVES. 


157 


Ing  on  themselves  any  of  those  bloody 
aaarks  of  mourning  which  shall  be 
mentioned  in  another  place. 

The  dress  of  both  men  and  women 
is  the  same,  and  consists  of  a  piece  of 
cloth  or  matting  (but  mostly  the 
former),  about  two  jrards  wide  and 
two  and  a  half  long ;  at  least,  so  long 
as  to  go  once  and  a  half  round  the 
waist,  to  which  it  is  confined  by  a 
girdle  or  cord.  It  is  double  before, 
and  hangs  down  like  a  petticoat  as 
low  as  the  middle  of  the  leg.  The 
upper  part  of  the  garment  above  the 
girdle  is  plaited  into  several  folds,  so 
that  when  unfolded  there  is  cloth 
sufficient  to  draw  up  and  wrap  round 
the  shoulders ;  which  is  very  seldom 
done.  This,  as  to  form,  is  the  general 
dress;  but  large  pieces  of  cloth  and 
fine  matting  are  worn  only  by  the 
superior  people.  The  inferior  sort 
are  satisfied  with  small  pieces,  and 
very  often  wear  nothing  but  a  cover- 
ing made  of  leaves  of  plants,  or  the 
"maro,"  which  is  a  narrow  piece  of 
cloth  or  matting  like  a  sash.  This 
they  pass  between  the  thighs  and 
wrap  round  the  waist;  but  the  use 
of  it  is  chiefly  confined  to  the  men. 
In  their  great  "Haivas,"  or  enter- 
tainments, they  have  various  dresses 
made  for  the  purpose,  but  the  form 
is  always  the  same,  and  the  richest 
dresses  are  covered  more  or  less  with 
red  feathers.  On  what  particular  oc- 
casion their  chiefs  wear  their  large 
red  feather- caps  1  could  not  learn. 
Both  men  and  women  sometimes 
shade  their  faces  from  the  sun  with 
little  bonnets  made  of  various  mate- 
rials. As  the  clothing,  so  are  the 
ornaments  worn  by  those  of  both 
sexes  the  same.  The  most  common 
of  these  are  necklaces  made  of  the 
fruit  of  the  Pandamts  and  various 
sweet-smelling  flowers,  which  go  under 
the  general  name  of  "  kabulla. " 
Others  are  composed  of  small  shells, 
the  wing  and  leg-bones  of  birds, 
sharks'  teeth,  and  other  things  ;  all 
which  hang  loose  upon  the  breast. 
In  the  same  manner  they  often  wear  a 
mother-of-pearl  shell  neatly  polished, 
or  a  ring  of  the  same  substance  carved, 
on  the  upper  part  of  the  arm ;  rings 


of  tortoise-shell  on  the  fingers ;  and  a 
number  of  these  joined  together  as 
bracelets  on  the  wrists.  The  lobes 
of  the  ears  (though  most  frequently 
only  one)  are  perforated  with  two 
holes,  in  which  they  wear  cylindrical 
bits  of  ivory  about  three  inches  long, 
introduced  at  one  hole  and  brought 
out  of  the  other,  or  bits  of  reed  of 
the  same  size  filled  with  a  yellow 
pigment.  This  seems  to  be  a  fine 
powder  of  turmeric,  with  which  the 
women  rub  themselves  all  over  in  the 
same  manner  as  our  ladies  use  their 
dry  rouge  upon  the  cheeks. 

Nothing  appears  to  give  them 
greater  pleasure  than  personal  clean- 
liness ;  to  produce  which  they  fre- 
quently bathe  in  the  ponds,  which 
seem  to  serve  no  other  purpose. 
Though  the  water  in  most  of  them 
stinks  intolerably,  they  prefer  them 
to  the  sea ;  and  they  are  so  sensible 
that  salt  water  hurts  their  skin,  that 
when  necessity  obliges  them  to  bathe 
in  the  sea  they  commonly  have  dome 
cocoa-nut  shells  filled  with  freshwater 
poured  over  them  to  wash  it  off. 
They  are  immoderately  fond  of  cocoa- 
nut  oil  for  the  same  reason ;  a  great 
quantity  of  which  they  not  only  pour 
upon  their  head  and  shoulders,  but 
rub  the  body  all  over  briskly  with  a 
smaller  quantity.  And  none  but 
those  who  have  seen  this  practice  can 
easily  conceive  how  the  appearance  of 
the  skin  is  improved  by  it.  This  oil, 
however,  is  not  to  be  procured  by  every 
one,  and  the  inferior  sort  of  people 
doubtless  appear  less  smooth  for  want 
of  it. 


CHAPTER  XL 

THETR  domestic  life  is  of  that  middle 
kind,  neither  so  laborious  as  to  be 
disagreeable,  nor  so  vacant  as  to  suffer 
them  to  degenerate  into  indolence. 
Nature  has  done  so  much  for  their 
country  that  the  first  can  hardly  oc- 
cur, and  their  disposition  seems  to  be 
a  pretty  good  bar  to  the  last.  By 
this  happy  combination  of  circum- 
stances their  necessary  labour  seem§ 
to  yield  in  its  turn  to  their  recrea- 


153 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.        [VoY.  III.  B.  II.  CH.  XI. 


tions  in  such  a  manner,  that  the 
latter  are  never  interrupted  by  the 
thoughts  of  being  obliged  to  recur  to 
the  former,  till  satiety  makes  them 
wish  for  such  a  transition. 

The  employment  of  the  women  is 
of  the  easy  kind,  and  for  the  most 
part  such  as  may  be  executed  in  the 
house.  The  manufacturing  their  cloth 
is  wholly  consigned  to  their  care. 
Having  already  described  the  process, 
I  shall  only  add  that  they  have  this 
cloth  of  different  degrees  of  fineness. 
The  coarser  sort,  of  which  they  make 
very  large  pieces,  does  not  receive 
the  impression  of  any  pattern.  Of 
the  finer  sort  they  have  some  that  is 
striped  and  chequered,  and  of  other 
patterns  differently  coloured.  But 
how  these  colours  are  laid  on  I  cannot 
say,  as  I  never  saw  any  of  this  sort 
made.  The  cloth  in  general  will 
resist  water  for  some  time,  but  that 
which  has  the  strongest  glaze  will 
resist  longest.  The  manufacture  next 
in  consequence,  and  also  within  the 
department  of  the  women,  is  that  of 
their  mats,  which  excel  everything  I 
have  seen  at  any  other  place  both  as 
to  their  texture  and  their  beauty. 
In  particular,  many  of  them  are  so 
superior  to  those  made  at  Otaheite, 
that  they  are  not  a  bad  article  to 
carry  thither  by  way  of  trade.  Of 
these  mats  they  have  seven  or  eight 
different  sorts  for  the  purposes  of 
wearing  or  sleeping  upon,  and  many 
are  merely  ornamental.  The  last  are 
chiefly  made  from  the  tough,  mem- 
braneous part  of  the  stock  of  the 
plantain  tree  ;  those  that  they  wear, 
from  the  Pandanus,  cultivated  for 
that  purpose,  and  never  suffered  to 
shoot  into  a  trunk  ;  and  the  coarser 
sort,  which  they  sleep  upon,  from  a 
plant  called  "evarra."  There  are 
many  other  articles  of  less  note  that 
employ  the  spare  time  of  their  females, 
as  combs,  of  which  they  make  vast 
numbers,  little  baskets  made  of  the 
same  substance  as  the  mats,  and  others 
of  the  fibrous  cocoa-nut  husk,  either 
plain  or  interwoven  with  small  beads, 
but  all  finished  with  such  neatness 
and  taste  in  the  disposition  of  the 
various  parts,  that  a  stranger  cannot 


help  admiring  their  assiduity  and 
dexterity. 

The  province  allotted  to  the  men 
is,  as  might  be  expected,  far  more 
laborious  and  extensive  than  that  of 
the  women.  Agriculture,  architec- 
ture, boat-building,  fishing,  and  other 
things  that  relate  to  navigation,  are 
the  objects  of  their  care.  Cultivated 
roots  and  fruits  being  their  principal 
support,  this  requires  their  constant 
attention  to  agriculture,  which  they 
pursue  very  diligently,  and  seem  to 
have  brought  almost  to  as  great  per- 
fection as  circumstances  will  permit. 
The  large  extent  of  the  plantain  fields 
has  been  taken  notice  of  already ;  and 
the  same  may  be  said  of  the  yams, 
these  two  together  being  at  least  as 
ten  to  one  with  respect  to  all  the 
other  articles.  In  planting  both 
these,  they  dig  small  holes  for  their 
reception,  and  afterwards  root  up  the 
surrounding  grass,  which  in  this  hot 
country  is  quickly  deprived  of  its 
vegetating  power,  and,  soon  rotting, 
becomes  a  good  manure.  The  instru- 
ments they  use  for  this  purpose,  which 
they  call  "hooo,"  are  nothing  more 
than  pickets  or  stakes  of  different 
lengths,  according  to  the  depth  they 
have  to  dig.  These  are  flattened  and 
sharpened  to  an  edge  at  one  end,  and 
the  largest  have  a  short  piece  fixed 
transversely  for  pressing  it  into  the 
ground  with  the  foot.  With  these, 
though  they  are  not  more  than  from 
two  to  four  inches  broad,  they  dig 
and  plant  ground  of  many  acres  in 
extent.  In  planting  the  plantains 
and  yams  they  observe  so  much  exact- 
ness, that  whichever  way  you  look 
the  rows  present  themselves  regular 
and  complete. 

The  cocoa-nut  and  bread-fruit  trees 
are  scattered  about  without  any  order, 
and  seem  to  give  them  no  trouble 
after  they  have  attained  a  certain 
height.  The  same  may  be  said  of 
another  large  tree,  which  produces 
great  number*  of  a  large,  roundish, 
compressed  nut,  called  "  eeefee  ;"  and 
of  a  smaller  tree  that  bears  a  rounded 
oval  nut  two  inches  long,  with  two  or 
three  triangular  kernels,  tough  and 
insipid,  called  "mabba,"  most  fro- 


JULY  1777.]        CONSTRUCTION  OF  NATIVE  HOUSES. 


quently  planted  near  their  houses. 
The  "kappe"  is,  commonly,  regu- 
larly planted,  and  in  pretty  large 
spots;  but  the  "mawhaha"is  inter- 
spersed amongst  other  things,  as  the 
"jeejee"  and  yams  are;  the  last  of 
which  I  have  frequently  t>een  in  the 
interspaces  of  the  plantain  trees  at 
their  common  distance.  Sugar-cane 
is  commonly  in  small  spots,  crowded 
closely  together;  and  the  mulberry, 
of  which  the  cloth  is  made,  though 
without  order,  has  suflicient  room 
allowed  for  it,  and  is  kept  very  clean. 
The  only  other  plant  that  they  culti- 
vate for  their  manufactures  is  the 
Pandemics,  which  is  generally  planted 
in.  a  row  close  together  at  the  sides  of 
the  other  fields ;  and  they  consider  it 
as  a  thing  so  distinct  in  this  state, 
that  they  have  a  different  name  for 
it,  which  shows  that  they  are  very 
sensible  of  the  great  changes  brought 
about  by  cultivation. 

It  is  remarkable  that  these  people, 
who  in  many  things  show  much  taste 
raid  ingenuity,  should  show  little  of 
cither  in  building  their  houses ;  though 
the  defect  is  rather  in  the  design  than 
in  the  execution.  Those  of  the  lower 
people  are  poor  huts,  scarcely  suffi- 
cient to  defend  them  from  the  weather, 
and  very  small.  Those  of  the  better 
sort  are'larger  and  more  comfortable ; 
but  not  what  one  might  expect.  The 
dimensions  of  one  of  a  middling  size 
are  about  thirty  feet  long,  twenty 
broad,  and  twelve  high.  Their  house 
is,  properly  speaking,  a  thatched  roof 
or  shed,  "supported  by  posts  and 
rafters  disposed  in  a  very  judicious 
manner.  The  floor  is  raised  with 
earth  smoothed,  and  covered  with 
strong,  thick  matting,  and  kept  very 
clean.  The  most  of  them  are  closed 
on  the  weather  side  (and  some  more 
than  two-thirds  round)  with  strong 
mats,  or  with  branches  of  the  cocoa- 
nut  tree  plaited  or  woven  into  each 
other.  These  they  fix  up  edgewise, 
reaching  from  the  eaves  to  the  ground, 
and  thus  they  answer  the  purpose  of 
a  wall.  A  thick,  strong  mat,  about 
two  and  one-half  or  three  feet  broad, 
bent  into  the  form  of  a  semicircle, 
and  set  upon  its  edge  with  the  ends 


159 

touching  the  side  of  the  house,  in 
shape  resembling  the  fender  of  a  fire- 
hearth,  encloses  a  space  for  the  master 
and  mistress  of  the  family  to  sleep  in. 
The  lady,  indeed,  spends  most  of  her 
time  during  the  day  within  it.  The 
rest  of  the  family  sleep  upon  the  floor 
wherever  they  please  to  lie  down ;  the 
unmarried  men  and  women  apart 
from  each  other.  Or,  if  the  family 
be  large,  there  are  small  huts  adjoin- 
ing to  which  the  servants  retire  in 
the  night ;  so  that  privacy  is  as  much 
observed  here  as  one  could  expect. 
They  have  mats  made  on  purpose  for 
sleeping  on ;  and  the  clothes  that 
they  wear  in  the  day  serve  for  their 
covering  in  the  night.  Their  whole 
furniture  consists  of  a  bowl  or  two, 
in  which  they  make  "kava;"  a  few 
gourds,  cocoa-nut  shells,  some  small 
wooden  stools  which  serve  them  for 
pillows,  and,  perhaps,  a  large  stool 
for  the  chief  or  master  of  the  family 
to-sit  upon.  The  only  probable  reason 
I  can  assign  for  their  neglect  of  orna- 
mental architecture  in  the  construc- 
tion of  their  houses,  is  their  being 
fond  of  living  much  in  the  open  air. 
Indeed,  they  seem  to  consider  their 
houses,  within  which  they  seldom 
eat,  as  of  little  use  but  to  sleep  in  and 
to  retire  to  in  bad  weather.  And  the 
lower  sort  of  people,  who  spend  a 
great  part  of  their  time  in  close  attend- 
ance upon  the  chiefs,  can  have  little 
use  for  their  own  houses  but  in  the 
last  case. 

They  make  amends  for  the  defects 
of  their  houses  by  their  great  atten- 
tion to  and  dexterity  in  naval  archi- 
tecture, if  I  may  be  allowed  to  give 
it  that  name.  But  I  refer  to  the 
narrative  of  my  last  voyage  for  an 
account  of  their  canoes,  and  their 
manner  of  building  and  navigating 
them.  The  only  tools  which  they  use 
to  construct  these  boats  are  hatchets, 
or  rather  thick  adzes,  of  a  smooth 
black  stone  that  abounds  at  Toofoa; 
augers  made  of  sharks'  teeth  fixed  on 
small  handles ;  and  rasps  of  a  rough 
skin  of  a  fish,  fastened  on  flat  pieces 
of  wood,  thinner  on  one  side,  which 
also  have  handles.  The  labour  and 
time  employed  in  finishing  their 


160 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.        [VoT.III.B.II.CH.XL 


canoes,  which  arc  the  most  perfect  of 
their  mechanical  productions,  will 
account  for  their  being  very  careful 
of  them.  For  they  are  built  and  pre- 
served under  sheds;  or  they  cover 
the  decked  part  of  them  with  cocoa- 
leaves  when  they  are  hauled  on  shore, 
to  prevent  their  being  hurt  by  the 
sun.  The  same  tools  are  all  they 
have  for  other  works,  if  we  except 
different  shells,  which  they  use  as 
knives.  But  there  are  few  of  their 
productions  that  require  these,  unless 
it  be  some  of  their  weapons ;  the  other 
articles  being  chiefly  their  fishing 
materials,  and  cordage.  The  cordage 
is  made  from  the  fibres  of  the  cocoa- 
nut  husk,  which,  though  not  more 
than  nine  or  ten  inches  long,  they 
plait,  about  the  size  of  a  quill  or  less, 
to  any  length  that  they  please,  and 
roll  it  up  in  balls,  from  which  the 
larger  ropes  are  made  by  twisting 
several  of  these  together.  The  lines 
that  they  fish  with  are  as  strong  and 
even  as  the  best  cord  we  make,  resem- 
bling it  almost  in  every  respect.  The 
other  fishing  implements  are  large 
and  small  hooks.  The  last  are  com- 
posed entirely  of  pearl-shell,  but  the 
first  are  only  covered  with  it  on  the 
back,  and  the  points  of  both  com- 
monly of  tortoise-shell ;  those  of  the 
small  being  plain  and  the  others 
barbed.  With  the  large  ones  they 
catch  bonitos  and  albicores,  by  put- 
ting them  to  a  bamboo  rod  twelve  or 
fourteen  feet  long,  with  a  line  of  the 
same  length,  which  rests  in  a  notch 
of  a  piece  of  wood  fixed  in  the  stern 
of  the  canoe  for  that  purpose,  and  is 
dragged  on  the  surface  of  the  sea  as 
she  rows  along,  without  any  other 
bait  than  a  tuft  of  fiaxy  stuff  near  the 
point.  They  have  also  great  numbers 
of  pretty  small  seines,  some  of  which 
are  of  a  very  delicate  texture.  These 
they  use  to  catch  fish  with  ir*  the 
holes  on  the  reefs  when  the  tide 
ebbs. 

The  other  man  vial  employments  con- 
sist chiefly  in  making  musical  reeds, 
flutes,  warlike  weapons,  and  stools  or 
rather  pillows  to  sleep  on.  The  reeds 
have  eight,  nine,  or  ten  pieces  placed 
parallel  to  each  other,  but  not  in  any 


regular  progression,  having  the  longest 
sometimes  in  the  middle,  and  several 
of  the  same  length;  so  that  I  have 
seen  none  with  more  than  six  notes  ; 
and  they  seem  incapable  of  playing 
any  music  on  them  that  is  distin- 
guishable by  our  ears.  The  flutes 
are  a  joint  of  bamboo,  close  at  both 
ends,  with  a  hole  near  each,  and  four 
others ;  two  of  which,  and  one  of  the 
first  only,  are  used  in  playing.  They 
apply  the  thumb  of  the  left  hand  to 
close  the  left  nostril,  and  blow  into 
the  hole  at  one  end  with  the  other. 
The  middle  finger  of  the  left  hand  is 
applied  to  the  first  hole  on  the  left, 
and  the  forefinger  of  the  right  to  the 
lowest  hole  on  that  side.  In  this 
manner,  though  the  notes  are  only 
three,  they  produce  a  pleasing  yet 
simple  music,  which  they  vary  much 
more  than  one  would  think  possible 
with  so  imperfect  an  instrument. 
Their  being  accustomed  to  a  music 
which  consists  of  so  few  notes  is  per- 
haps the  reason  why  they  do  not  seem 
to  relish  any  of  ours,  which  is  so 
complex.  But  they  can  taste  what 
is  more  deficient  than  their  own  ;  for 
we  observed  that  they  used  to  be  well 
pleased  with  hearing  the  chant  of  our 
two  young  New  Zealanders,  which 
consisted  rather  in  mere  strength 
than  in  melody  of  expression.  The 
weapons  which  they  make  are  clubs 
of  different  sorts  (in  the  ornamenting 
of  which  they  spend  much  time), 
spears,  and  darts.  They  have  also 
bows  and  arrows ;  but  these  seemed 
to  be  designed  only  for  amusement, 
such  as  shooting  at  birds,  and  not  for 
military  purposes.  The  stools  are 
about  two  feet  long,  but  only  four  or 
five  inches  high,  and  near  four  broad, 
bending  downward  in  the  middle, 
with  four  strong  legs  and  circular 
feet ;  the  whole  made  of  one  piece  of 
black  or  brown  wood,  neatly  polished 
and  sometimes  inlaid  with  bits  of 
ivory.  They  also  inlay  the  handles 
of  flyflaps  with  ivory,  after  being 
neatly  carved  ;  and  they  shape  bonei 
into  small  figures  of  men,  birds,  and 
other  things,  which  must  be  very 
difficult,  as  their  carving  instrument 
is  only  a  shark's  tooth. 


JULY  1777.]  FOOD  AND 

Yams,  plantains,  and  cocoa-nnts, 
compose  the  greatest  part  of  their 
vegetable  diet.  Of  their  animal  food, 
the  chief  articles  are  hogs,  fowls,  fish, 
and  all  sorts  of  shell-fish  ;  but  the 
lower  people  eat  rats.  The  two  first 
vegetable  articles,  with  bread-fruit, 
are  what  may  be  called  the  basis  of 
their  food  at  different  times  of  the 
year,  with  fish  and  shell-fish ;  for 
nogs,  fowls,  and  turtle,  seem  only  to 
be  occasional  dainties  reserved  for 
their  chiefs.  The  intervals  bstween 
the  seasons  of  these  vegetable  produc- 
tions must  be  sometimes  considerable, 
as  they  prepare  a  sort  of  artificial 
bread  from  plantains,  which  they  put 
under  ground  before  ripe,  and  suffer 
them  to  remain  till  they  ferment, 
when  they  are  taken  out  and  made 
up  into  small  balls  ;  but  so  sour  and 
indifferent,  that  they  often  said  our 
bread  was  preferable,  though  some- 
what musty.  Their  food  is,  generally, 
dressed  by  baking,  in  the  same  man- 
lier as  at  Otaheite  ;  and  they  have 
the  art  of  making  from  different  kinds 
of  fruit  several  dishes  which  most  of 
us  esteemed  very  good.  I  never  saw 
them  make  use  of  any  kind  of  sauce  ; 
nor  drink  anything  at  their  meals 
but  water  or  the  juice  of  the  cocoa- 
nut ;  for  the  "kava"  is  only  their 
morning  draught.  I  cannot  say  that 
they  are  cleanly  either  in  their  cook- 
cry  or  manner  of  eating.  The  gener- 
ality of  them  will  lay  their  victuals 
upon  the  first  leaf  they  meet  with, 
however  dirty  it  may  be  ;  but  when 
food  is  served  up  to  the  chiefs  it  is 
commonly  laid  upon  green  plantain 
leaves.  When  the  King  made  a  meal, 
he  was  for  the  most  part  attended 
upon  by  three  or  four  persons.  One 
cut  large  pieces  of  the  joint  or  of  the 
fish  ;  another  divided  it  into  mouth- 
fills  ;  and  others  stood  by  with  cocoa- 
nuts  and  whatever  else  he  might 
wan,t.  I  never  saw  a  large  company 
sit  down  to  what  we  should  call  a 
•ociable  meal,  by  eating  from  the 
same  disb..  The  food,  be  what  it 
will,  is  always  divided  into  portions, 
each  to  serve  a  certain  number ;  these 
portions  are  again  subdivided  ;  so 
that  one  seldom  sees  above  two  or 


COOKERY.  161 

three  persons  eating  together. '  The 
women  are  not  excluded  from  eating 
with  the  men,  but  there  are  certain 
ranks  or  orders  amongst  them  that 
can  neither  eat  nor  drink  together. 
This  distinction  begins  with  the  King, 
but  where  it  ends  I  cannot  say.  They 
seem  to  have  no  set  time  for  meals  ; 
though  it  should  be  observed  that 
during  our  stay  amongst  them  their 
domestic  economy  was  much  dis- 
turbed by  their  constant  attention  to 
us.  As  far  as  we  could  remark,  those 
of  the  superior  rank  only  drink 
"  kava "  in  the  forenoon,  and  the 
others  eat  perhaps  a  bit  of  yam  ;  but 
we  commonly  saw  all  of  them  eat 
something  in  the  afternoon.  It  is 
probable  that  the  practice  of  making 
a  meal  in  the  night  is  pretty  common ; 
and  their  rest  being  thus  interrupted 
they  frequently  sleep  in  the  day. 
They  go  to  bed  as  soon  as  it  is  dark, 
and  rise  with  the  dawn  in  the  morning. 
They  are  very  fond  of  associating 
together,  so  that  it  is  common  to  find 
several  houses  empty,  and  the  owners 
of  them  cpnvened  in  some  other  one, 
or  rather  upon  a  convenient  spot  in 
the  neighbourhood  where  they  recreate 
themselves  by  conversing  and  other 
amusements.  Their  private  diversions 
are  chiefly  singing,  dancing,  and  music 
performed  by  the  women.  When  two 
or  three  women  sing  in  concert,  and 
snap  their  fingers,  it  is  called  "oobai ; " 
but  when  there  is  a  greater  number 
they  divide  into  several  parties,  each 
of  which  sings  on  a  different  key, 
which  makes  a  very  agreeable  music, 
and  is  called  "heeva"  or  "haiva." 
In  the  same  manner,  they  vary  the 
music  of  their  flutes,  by  playing  on 
those  of  a  different  size  ;  but  their 
dancing  is  much  the  same  as  when 
they  perform  publicly.  The  dancing 
of  the  men  (if  it  is  to  be  called  danc- 
ing), although  it  does  not  consist 
much  in  moving  the  feet  as  we  do, 
has  a  thousand  different  motions  with 
the  hands  to  which  we  are  entire 
strangers ;  and  they  are  performed 
with  an  ease  and  grace  which  are  not 
to  be  described  nor  even  conceived 
but  by  those  who  have  seen  them. 
But  I  need  add  nothing  to  what  has 
It 


162 

been  already  said  on  this  subject  in 
the  account  of  the  incidents  that  hap- 
pened during  our  stay  at  the  islands. 

Whether  their  marriages  be  made 
lasting  by  any  kind  of  solemn  con- 
tract, we  could  not  determine  with 
precision ;  but  it  is  certain,  that  the 
hulk  of  the  people  satisfied  themselves 
with  one  wife.  The  chiefs,  however, 
have  commonly  several  women ;  though 
some  of  us  were  of  opinion  that  there 
was  only  one  that  was  looked  upon  as 
the  mistress  of  the  family.  As  female 
chastity  at  first  sight  seemed  to  be  held 
in  no  great  estimation,  we  expected 
to  have  found  frequent  breaches  of 
their  conjugal  fidelity ;  but  we  did 
them  great  injustice.  I  do  not  know 
that  a  single  instance  happened  dur- 
ing our  whole  stay.  Neither  are  those 
of  the  better  sort  that  are  unmarried 
more  free  of  their  favours.  It  is  true, 
there  was  no  want  of  those  of  a  differ- 
ent character ;  and  perhaps  such  are 
more  frequently  met  with  here  in  pro- 
portion to  the  number  of  people,  than 
in  many  other  countries.  But  it 
appeared  to  me  that  the  most,  if  not 
all  of  them,  were  of  the  lowest  class  ; 
and  such  of  them  as  permitted  fami- 
liarities to  our  people  were  prostitutes 
by  profession. 

Nothing  can  be  a  greater  proof  of 
the  humanity  of  these  people  than 
the  concern  they  show  for  the  dead. 
To  use  a  common  expression,  their 
mourning  is  not  in  words  but  deeds. 
For,  besides  the  "  tooge"  mentioned 
before,  and  burnt  circles  and  scars, 
they  beat  the  teeth  with  stones, 
strike  a  shark's  tooth  into  the  head 
until  the  blood  flows  in  streams,  and 
thrust  spears  into  the  inner  part  of 
the  thigh,  into  their  sides  below  the 
arm-pits,  and  through  the  cheeks  into 
the  mouth.  All  these  operations  con- 
vey an  idea  of  such  rigorous  discipline 
as  must  require  either  an  uncommon 
degree  of  affection,  or  the  grossest 
superstition,  to  exact.  I  will  not  say 
that  the  last  has  no  share  in  it ;  for 
sometimes  it  is  so  universal  that  many 
could  not  have  any  knowledge  of  the 
person  for  whom  the  concern  is  ex- 

fressed.     Thus  we  saw  the  people  of 
ongataboo  mourning  the  death  of  a 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.        [\TOY.  III.  B.  II.  CH.  XL 


chief  at  Vavaoo ;  and  other  similar 
instances  occurred  during  our  stay. 
It  should  be  observed,  however,  that 
the  more  painful  operations  are  only 
practised  on  account  of  the  death  of 
those  most  nearly  connected  with  the 
mourners.  When  a  person  dies,  he 
is  buried,  after  being  wrapped  up  in 
mats  and  cloth,  much  after  our  man- 
ner. The  chiefs  seem  to  have  the 
"fiatookas"  appropriated  to  them  as 
their  burial-places  ;  but  the  common 
people  are  interred  in  no  particular 
spot.  What  part  of  the  mourning 
ceremony  follows  immediately  after 
is  uncertain  ;  but  that  there  is  some- 
thing besides  the  general  one,  which 
is  continued  for  a  considerable  length 
of  time,  we  could  infer  from  being 
informed  that  the  funeral  of  Maree- 
wagee's  wife,  as  mentioned  before,  was 
to  be  attended  with  ceremonies  that 
were  to  last  five  days,  in  which  all 
the  principal  people  were  to  com- 
memorate her. 

Their  long  and  general  mourning 
proves  that  they  consider  death  as  a 
very  great  evil.  And  this  is  con- 
firmed by  a  very  odd  custom  which 
they  practise  to  avert  it.  When  I 
first  visited  these  islands,  during  my 
last  voyage,  I  observed  that  many  of 
the  inhabitants  had  one  or  both  of 
their  little  fingers  cut  off;  and  we 
could  not  then  receive  any  satisfactory 
account  of  the  reason  of  this  mutila- 
tion. But  we  now  learned  that  this 
operation  is  performed  when  they 
labour  under  some  grievous  disease 
and  think  themselves  in  danger  of 
dying.  They  suppose  that  the  Deity 
will  accept  of  the  little  finger  as  a 
sort  of  sacrifice  efficacious  enough  to 
procure  the  recovery  of  their  health. 
They  cut  it  off  with  one  of  their  stone 
hatchets.  There  was  scarcely  one  in 
ten  of  them  whom  we  did  not  find 
thus  mutilated  in  one  or  both  hands  ; 
which  has  a  disagreeable  effect,  especi- 
ally as  they  sometimes  cut  so  close 
that  they  encroach  upon  the  bone  of 
the  hand  which  joins  to  the  ampu- 
tated finger.1 


1  It  may  be  proper  to  mention  here, 
on  the  authority  of  Captain  King,  that 


JULY  1777.]    MOURNING  CEREMONIES  FOR  THE  DEAD. 


From  the  rigid  severity  with  which 
•ome  of  these  mourning  and  religious 
ceremonies  are  executed,  one  would 
expect  to  find  that  they  meant  there- 
by to  secure  to  themselves  felicity 
beyond  the  grave ;  but  their  princi- 
pal object  relates  to  things  merely 
temporal,  for  they  seem  to  have  little 
conception  of  future  punishment  for 
faults  committed  in  this  life.  They 
believe,  however,  that  they  are  justly 
punished  upon  earth ;  and  conse- 
quently use  every  method  to  render 
their  Divinities  propitious.  The  Su- 
preme Author  of  most  things  they 
call  "  Kallafootonga,"  who,  they  say, 
is  a  female  residing  in  the  sky  and 
directing  the  thunder,  wind,  rain,  and 
in  general  all  the  changes  of  weather. 
They  believe  that  when  she  is  angry 
with  them  the  productions  of  the 
earth  are  blasted  ;  that  many  things 
are  destroyed  by  lightning  ;  and  that 
they  themselves  are  afflicted  with  sick- 
ness and  death,  as  well  as  their  hogs 
and  other  animals.  When  this  anger 
abates,  they  suppose  that  everything 
is  restored  to  its  natural  order ;  and  it 
should  seem  that  they  have  a  great 
reliance  on  the  efficacy  of  their  en- 
deavours to  appease  their  offended 
Divinity.  They  also  admit  a  plurality 
of  deities,  though  all  inferior  to  "  Kal- 
lafootonga." Amongst  them  they 
mention  "  Toofooa-boolootoo, "  god  of 
the  clouds  and  fog;  "Talleteboo," 
and  some  others,  residing  in  the 
heavens.  The  first  in  rank  and 
power,  who  has  the  government  of 
the  sea  and  its  productions,  is  called 
"  Futtafaihe,"  or,  as  it  was  sometimes 
pronounced,  "Footafooa,"  who,  they 
say,  is  a  male,  and  has  for  his  wife 
"Fykavakajeea ;"  and  here,  as  in 
heaven,  there  are  several  inferior 
potentates,  such  as  "  Vahaa-fonooa," 
44  Tareeava, "  ' '  Mattaba, "  ' '  Evaroo, " 
and  others.  The  same  religious  sys- 
tem, however,  does  not  extend  all 
over  the  cluster  of  the  Friendly  Isles  ; 

it  is  common  for  the  inferior  people  to 
cut  off  a  joint  of  their  little  finger,  on 
account  of  the  sickness  of  the  chiefs 
to  whom  they  belong. — Note  in  Ori- 
ginal Edition. 


163 

for  the  supreme  god  of  Hapaee,  for 
instance,  is  called  "Alo  Alo  ;"  and 
other  isles  have  two  or  three  of  differ- 
ent names.  But  their  notions  of  the 
power  and  other  attributes  of  these 
beings  are  so  very  absurd,  that  they 
suppose  they  have  no  further  concern 
with  them  after  death. 

They  have,  however,  very  proper 
sentiments  about  the  immateriality 
and  the  immortality  of  the  soul.  They 
call  it  life,  the  living  principle,  or, 
what  is  more  agreeable  to  their  notions 
of  it,  an  "  Otooa  ;"  that  is,  a  divinity 
or  invisible  being.  They  say  that 
immediately  upon  death  the  souls  of 
their  chiefs  separate  from  their  bodies, 
and  go  to  a  place  called  *'  Boolootoo," 
the  chief  or  god  of  which  is  * '  Gooleho. " 
This  "Gooleho"  seems  to  be  a  per- 
sonification of  death  ;  for  they  used 
to  say  to  us,  "  You  and  the  men  of 
Feejee  "  (by  this  junction  meaning  to 
pay  a  compliment  expressive  of  their 
confession  of  our  superiority  over 
themselves)  "  are  also  subject  to  the 
power  and  dominion  of  'Gooleho.'" 
His  country,  the  general  receptacle  of 
the  dead,  according  to  their  mytho- 
logy, was  never  seen  by  any  person ; 
yet  it  seems  they  know  that  it  lies  to 
the  westward  of  Feejee,  and  that  they 
who  are  once  transported  thither  live 
for  ever,  or,  to  use  their  own  expres- 
sion, are  not  subject  to  death  again, 
but  feast  upon  all  the  favourite  pro- 
ducts of  their  own  country,  with  which 
this  everlasting  abode  is  supposed  to 
abound.  As  to  the  souls  of  the  lower 
sort  of  people,  they  undergo  a  sort  of 
transmigration  ;  or,  as  they  say,  are 
eaten  up  by  a  bird  called  "loata," 
which  walks  upon  their  graves  for 
that  purpose. 

I  think  I  may  venture  to  assert 
that  they  do  not  worship  anything 
that  is  the  work  of  their  own  hands, 
or  any  visible  part  of  the  creation. 
They  do  not  make  offerings  of  hogs, 
dogs,  and  fruit,  as  at  Otaheite,  unless 
it  be  emblematically,  for  their  "mor- 
ais  "  were  perfectly  free  from  every- 
thing  of  the  kind.  But  that  they 
offer  real  human  sacrifices  is  with  me 
beyond  a  doubt.  Their  "  morais  "  01 
"fiatookas"  (for  they  are  called  by 


164 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.        [Vov.  III.  B.  II.  CH.  XI. 


both  names,  but  mostly  by  the  latter) 
are,  as  at  Otaheite  and  many  other 
parts  of  the  world,  burying-grounds 
and  places  of  worship,  though  some 
of  them  seemed  to  be  only  appropri- 
ated to  the  first  purpose,  but  these 
were  small,  and  in  every  other  respect 
inferior  to  the  others. 

Of  the  nature  of  their  government 
we  know  no  more  than  the  general 
outline.  A  subordination  is  estab- 
lished among  them  that  resembles 
the  feudal  system  of  our  progenitors 
in  Europe.  But  of  its  subdivisions, 
of  the  constituent  parts,  and  in  what 
manner  they  are  connected  so  as  to 
form  a  body  politic,  I  confess  myself 
totally  ignorant.  Some  of  them  told 
us  that  the  power  of  the  King  is  un- 
limited, and  that  the  life  and  property 
of  the  subject  is  at  his  disposal.  But 
the  few  circumstances  that  fell  under 
our  observation  rather  contradicted 
than  confirmed  the  idea  of  a  despotic 
government.  Mareewagce,  old  Too- 
bou,  and  Feenou,  acted  each  like 
petty  sovereigns,  and  frequently 
thwarted  the  measures  of  the  King,  of 
which  he  often  complained.  Neither 
was  his  court  more  splendid  than 
those  of  the  two  first,  who  are  the 
most  powerful  chiefs  in  the  islands  ; 
and  next  to  them  Feenou,  Mareewa- 
gee's  son,  seemed  to  stand  highest  in 
authority.  But  however  independent 
on  the  despotic  power  of  the  King  the 
great  men  may  be,  we  saw  instances 
enough  to  prove  that  the  lower  order 
of  people  have  no  property  nor  safety 
for  their  persons  but  at  the  will  of  the 
chiefs  to  whom  they  respectively  be- 
long. 

Tongataboo  is  divided  into  many 
districts,  of  above  thirty  of  which  we 
learned  the  names.  Each  of  these 
has  its  particular  chief,  who  decides 
differences  and  distributes  justice 
within  his  own  district.  But  we  could 
not  form  any  satisfactory  judgment 
about  the  extent  of  their  power  in 
general,  or  their  mode  of  proportion- 
ing punishments  to  crimes.  Most  of 
these  chiefs  have  possessions  in  other 
islands,  whence  they  draw  supplies. 
At  least  we  know  this  is  so  with  re- 
spect to  the  King,  who  at  certain 


established  times  receives  the  product 
of  his  distant  domains  at  Tongataboo, 
which  is  not  only  the  principal  place 
of  his  residence,  but  seemingly  of  all 
the  people  of  consequence  amongst 
these  isles.  Its  inhabitants  in  com- 
mon conversation  call  it  the  Land  of 
Chiefs,  while  the  subordinate  isles  are 
distinguished  by  the  appellation  of 
Lands  of  Servants.  These  chiefs  are 
by  the  people  styled  not  only  Lords 
of  the  Earth,  but  of  the  Sun  and  Sky ; 
and  the  King's  family  assume  the 
name  of  Futtafaihe,  from  the  god  so 
called,  who  is  probably  their  tutelary 
patron  and  perhaps  their  common 
ancestor.  The  Sovereign's  peculiar 
earthly  title  is,  however,  simply 
"Tooee  Tonga." 

There  is  a  decorum  observed  in  the 
presence  of  their  principal  men,  and 
particularly  of  their  King,  that  is 
truly  admirable.  Whenever  he  sits 
down,  whether  it  be  in  a  house  or 
without,  all  the  attendants  seat  them- 
selves at  the  same  time  in  a  semicircle 
before  him,  leaving  always  a  conveni- 
ent space  between  him  and  them,  into 
which  no  one  attempts  to  come  unless 
he  has  some  particular  business. 
Neither  is  any  one  allowed  to  pass  or 
sit  behind  him,  nor  even  near  him, 
without  his  order  or  permission  ;  so 
that  our  having  been  indulged  with 
this  privilege  was  a  significant  proof 
of  the  great  respect  that  was  paid  us. 
When  any  one  wants  to  speak  with 
the  King,  he  advances  and  sits  down 
before  him,  delivers  what  he  has  to 
say  in  a  few  words  ;  and,  having  re- 
ceived his  answer,  retires  again  to  the 
circle.  But  if  the  King  speaks  to 
any  one,  that  person  answers  from  his 
seat,  unless  he  is  to  receive  some  order, 
in  which  case  he  gets  up  from  his 
place  and  sits  down  before  the  chief 
with  his  legs  across,  which  is  a  posture 
to  which  they  are  so  much  accustomed 
that  any  other  mode  of  sitting  is  dis- 
agreeable to  them.1  To  speak  to  the 
King  standing  would  be  accounted 
here  as  a  striking  mark  of  rudeness, 

1  This  is  peculiar  to  the  men,  the 
women  always  sitting  with  botli  legs 
thrown  a  little  on  one  side. 


JULY  1777.] 
as  it  would  be  with  us  for  one  to  sit 
down  and  put  on  his  hat  when  he  ad- 
dresses himself  to  hissuperior,  and  that 
superior  on  his  feet  and  uncovered. 

It  does  not  indeed  appear  that  any 
of  the  most  civilised  nations  have  ever 
exceeded  this  people  in  the  great  order 
observed  on  all  occasions,  in  ready 
compliance  with  the  commands  of 
their  chiefs,  and  in  the  harmony  that 
subsists  throughout  all  ranks,  and 
unites  them  as  if  they  were  all  one 
man,  informed  with  and  directed  by 
the  same  principle.  Such  a  behavi- 
our is  remarkably  obvious  whenever 
it  is  requisite  that  their  chief  should 
harangue  any  body  of  them  collected 
together,  which  is  frequently  done. 
The  most  profound  silence  and  atten- 
tion are  observed  during  the  harangue, 
even  to  a  much  greater  degree  than  is 
practised  amongst  us  on  the  most 
interesting  and  serious  deliberations 
of  our  most  respectable  assemblies. 
And  whatever  might  have  been  the 
subject  of  the  speech  delivered,  we 
never  saw  an  instance  when  any  indi- 
vidual present  showed  signs  of  his 
being  displeased,  or  indicated  the 
least  inclination  to  dispute  the  de- 
clared will  of  a  person  who  had  a 
right  to  command.  Nay,  such  is  the 
force  of  these  verbal  laws,  as  I  may 
call  them,  that  I  have  seen  one  of 
their  chiefs  express  his  being  aston- 
ished at  a  person's  having  acted  con- 
trary to  such  orders,  though  it  ap- 
peared that  the  poor  man  could  not 
possibly  have  been  informed  in  time 
to  have  observed  them. 

Though  some  of  the  more  potent 
chiefs  may  vie  with  the  King  in  point 
of  actual  possessions,  they  fall  very 
short  in  rank  and  in  certain  marks  of 
respect  which  the  collective  body 
have  agreed  to  pay  the  monarch.  It 
is  a  particular  privilege  annexed  to 
his  sovereignty  not  to  be  punctured 
nor  circumcised  as  all  his  subjects  are. 
Whenever  he  walks  out,  every  one 
whom  he  meets  must  sit  down  till  he 
has  passed.  No  one  is  allowed  to  be 
over  his  head  ;  on  the  contrary,  all 
must  come  under  his  feet,  for  there 
cannot  be  a  greater  outward  mark  of 
submission  than  that  which  is  paid  to 


OBEISANCE  PAID  TO  THE  KING. 


165 


the  Sovereign  and  other  great  people 
of  these  islands  by  their  inferiors. 
The  method  is  this :  the  person  who 
is  to  pay  obeisance  squats  down  befor* 
the  chief,  and  bows  the  head  to  the 
sole  of  his  foot,  which  when  he  sits  is 
so  placed  that  it  can  be  easily  come 
at ;  and  having  tapped  or  touched  it 
with  the  under  and  upper  side  of  the 
fingers  of  both  hands,  he  rises  up  and 
retires.  It  should  seem  that  the  King 
cannot  refuse  any  one  who  chooses  to 
pay  him  this  homage,  which  is  called 
"  moe  moea,"  for  the  common  people 
would  frequently  take  it  into  their 
heads  to  do  it  when  he  was  walking ; 
and  he  was  always  obliged  to  stop  and 
hold  up  one  of  his  feet  behind  him 
till  they  had  performed  the  ceremony. 
This  to  a  heavy  unwieldy  man  like 
Poulaho  must  be  attended  with  some 
trouble  and  pain  ;  and  I  have  some- 
times seen  him  make  a  run,  though 
very  unable,  to  get  out  of  the  way  or 
to  reach  a  place  where  he  might  con- 
veniently sit  down.  The  hands,  after 
this  application  of  them  to  the  chief's 
feet,  are  in  some  cases  rendered  use- 
less for  a  time,  for  until  they  be  washed 
they  must  not  touch  any  kind  of  food. 
This  interdiction,  in  a  country  where 
water  is  so  scarce,  would  seem  to  be 
attended  with  some  inconvenience; 
but  they  are  never  at  a  loss  for  a  suc- 
cedaueum,  and  a  piece  of  any  juicy 
plant,  which  they  can  easily  procure 
immediately,  being  rubbed  upon  them, 
this  serves  for  the  purpose  of  purifica- 
tion as  well  as  washing  them  with 
water.  When  the  hands  are  ill  this 
state  they  call  it  "taboo  rema." 
"Taboo,"  in  general,  signifies  for- 
bidden; and  "rema"  is  their  word 
for  hand. 

When  the  "taboo  "  is  incurred  by 
paying  obeisance  to  a  great  personage, 
it  is  thus  easily  washed  off.  But  in 
some  other  cases  it  must  necessarily 
continue  for  a  certain  time.  We 
have  frequently  seen  women  who  have 
been  "taboo  rema"  fed  by  others. 
At  the  expiration  of  the  time,  the  in- 
terdicted person  washes  herself  in  one 
of  their  baths,  which  are  dirty  holes, 
for  the  most  part,  of  brackish  water. 
She  then  waits  upon  the  King,  and, 


166 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.        [VoY.  III.  B.  II.  CH.  XI. 


jr  parts  of  her  body.    He  then 
s  her  on  each  shoulder,  after 


after  making  her  obeisance  in  the 
usual  way,  lays  hold  of  his  foot  and 
applies  it  to  her  breast,  shoulders, 
and  other 
embraces 

which  she  retires  purified  from  her 
uncleanness.  1  do  not  know  that  it 
is  always  necessary  to  come  to  the 
King  for  this  purpose,  though  Omai 
assured  me  it  was.  If  this  be  so,  it 
may  be  one  reason  why  he  is  for  the 
most  part  travelling  from  island  to 
island.  I  saw  this  ceremony  performed 
by  him  two  or  three  times,  and  once 
by  Feenou  to  one  of  his  own  women  ; 
but  as  Omai  was  not  then  with  me  I 
could  not  ask  the  occasion.  "  Ta- 
boo, "  as  I  have  before  observed,  is  a 
word  of  an  extensive  signification. 
Human  sacrifices  are  called  "  tangata 
taboo  ; "  and  when  anything  is  for- 
bidden to  be  eaten  or  made  use  of, 
they  say  that  it  is  "taboo."  They 
tell  us  that  if  the  King  should  happen 
to  go  into  a  house  belonging  to  a  sub- 
ject, that  house  would  be  "taboo," 
and  could  never  more  be  inhabited  by 
the  owner,  so  that  wherever  he  travels 
there  are  particular  houses  for  his  re- 
ception. Old  Toobou  at  this  time 
presided  over  the  "taboo,"  that  is, 
if  Omai  comprehended  the  matter 
rightly,  he  and  his  deputies  inspected 
all  the  produce  of  the  island,  taking 


inform  us  of  Feenou's  office  ;  and, 
among  other  things,  told  us  that  if 
he  himself  should  become  a  bad  man, 
Feenou  would  kill  him.  What  I 
understood  by  this  expression  of  being 
a  bad  man  was,  that  if  he  did  not  go- 
vern according  to  law  or  custom, 
Feenou  would  be  ordered  by  the  other 
great  men,  or  by  the  people  at  large, 
to  put  him  to  death.  There  should 
seem  to  be  no  doubt  that  a  sovereign 
thus  liable  to  be  controlled  and  pun- 
ished for  an  abuse  of  power,  cannot 
be  called  a  despotic  monarch.  When 
we  consider  the  number  of  islands 
that  compose  this  little  state,  and  the 
distance  at  which  some  of  them  lie 
from  the  seat  of  government,  attempts 
to  throw  off  the  yoke  and  to  acquire 
independency,  it  should  seem,  might 
be  apprehended.  But  they  tell  us 
that  this  never  happens.  One  reason 
why  they  are  not  thus  disturbed  by 
domestic  quarrels  may  be  this,  that 
all  the  powerful  chiefs,  as  we  have 
already  mentioned,  reside  at  Tongata- 
boo.  They  also  secure  the  independ- 
ence of  the  other  islands  by  the 
celerity  of  their  operations ;  for  if  at 
any  time  a  troublesome  and  popular 
man  should  start  up  in  any  of  them, 
Feenou,  or  whoever  holds  his  office, 
is  immediately  despatched  thither  to 
kill  him.  By  this  means  they  crush 


care  that  every  man  should  cultivate  I  a  rebellion  in  its  very  infancy. 

and   plant  his  quota,   and   ordering        The  orders  or  classes  amongst  their 


what  should  be  eaten  and  what  not. 
By  this  wise  regulation  they  effectu- 
ally guard  against  a  famine,  a  suffi- 
cient quantity  of  ground  is  employed 
in  raising  provisions,  and  every  article 
thus  raised  is  secured  from  unneces- 
sary waste. 

By  another  prudent  regulation  in 
their  government,  they  have  an  officer 
over  the  police,  or  something  like 
it.  This  department  when  we  were 
amongst  them  was  administered  by 
Feenou ;  whose  business,  we  were  told, 
it  was  to  punish  all  offenders,  whether 
against  the  State  or  against  indi- 
viduals. He  was  also  generalissimo, 
and  commanded  the  warriors  wfcen 
called  out  upon  service  ;  but  by  all 
accounts  this  is  very  seldom.  The 


chiefs,  or  those  who  call  themselves 
such,  seemed  to  be  almost  as  numer- 
ous as  amongst  us  ;  but  there  are  few 
in  comparison  that  are  lords  of  large 
districts  of  territory,  the  rest  holding 
their  lands  under  those  principal 
barons,  as  they  may  be  called.  I  was, 
indeed,  told  that  when  a  man  of  pro- 
perty dies,  everything  he  leaves  be- 
hind him  falls  to  the  King  ;  but  that 
it  is  usual  to  give  it  to  the  eldest  son 
of  the  deceased,  with  an  obligation  to 
make  a  provision  out  of  it  for  the 
rest  of  the  children.  It  is  not  the  cus- 
tom here,  as  at  Otaheite,  for  the  son, 
the  moment  he  is  born,  to  take  from 
the  father  the  homage  and  title,  but 
he  succeeds  to  them  at  his  decease  ;  so 
that  their  form  of  government  is  not 


King  frequently  took  some  pains  to  j  only  monarchical  but  hereditary. 


JULY  1777.]      AN  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  ROYAL  FAMILY. 


The  order  of  succession  to  the  crown 
has  not  been  of  late  interrupted  ;  for 
we  know  from  a  particular  circum- 
stance that  the  Futtafaihes  (Poulaho 
being  only  an  addition  to  distinguish 
the  King  from  the  rest  of  his  family) 
have  reigned  in  a  direct  line  for  at 
least  135  years.  Upon  inquiring 
whether  any  account  had  been  pre- 
served amongst  them  of  the  arrival 
of  Tasman's  ships,  we  found  that  this 
history  had  been  handed  down  to 
them  from  their  ancestors  with  an 
accuracy  which  marks  that  oral  tradi- 
tion may  sometimes  be  depended  upon. 
For  they  described  the  two  ships  as 
resembling  ours  ;  mentioning  the 
place  where  they  had  anchored ;  their 
having  stayed  but  a  few  days  ;  and 
their  moving  from  that  station  to 
Annamooka.  And,  by  way  of  in- 
forming us  how  long  ago  this  had 
happened,  they  told  us  the  name  of 
the  Futtafaihe  who  was  then  king, 
and  of  those  who  had  succeeded,  down 
to  Poulaho,  who  is  the  fifth  since  that 
period  ;  the  first  being  an  old  man 
at  the  time  of  the  arrival  of  the 
ships. 

From  what  has  been  said  of  the 
present  King,  it  would  be  natural  to 
suppose  that  he  had  the  highest  rank 
of  any  person  in  the  islands.  But  to 
our  great  surprise  we  found  it  is  not 
so  ;  for  Latoolibooloo,  the  person  who 
was  pointed  out  to  me  as  King  when 
I  first  visited  Tongataboo,  and  three 
women,  are  in  some  respects  superior 
to  Poulaho  himself.  On  our  inquir- 
ing who  these  extraordinary  person- 
ages were  whom  they  distinguish  by 
the  name  and  title  of  "Taminaha," 
we  were  told  that  the  late  King,  Pou- 
laho's  father,  had  a  sister  of  equal 
rank,  and  older  than  himself ;  that 
she,  by  a  man  who  came  from  the 
island  of  Feejee,  had  a  son  and  two 
daughters  ;  and  that  these  three  per- 
sons,  as  well  as  their  mother,  rank 
above  Futtafaihe,  the  King.  We  en- 
deavoured in  vain  to  trace  the  reason 


167 

of  this  singular  pre-eminence  of  the 
"  Tammahas;"  for  we  could  learn 
nothing  besides  this  account  of  their 
pedigree.  The  mother,  and  one  of 
the  daughters,  called  Tooeela-kaipa, 
live  at  Vavaoo.  Latoolibooloo,  the 
son,  and  the  other  daughter,  whose 
name  is  Moungoula  -  kaipa,  reside 
at  Tongataboo.  The  latter  is  the 
woman  who  is  mentioned  to  have 
dined  with  me  on  the  21st  of  June.1 
This  gave  occasion  to  our  discovering 
her  superiority  over  the  King,  who 
would  not  eat  in  her  presence,  though 
she  made  no  scruple  to  do  so  before 
him,  and  received  from  him  the  cus- 
tomary obeisance  by  touching  her  foot. 
We  never  had  an  opportunity  of  see- 
ing him  pay  this  mark  of  respect  to 
Latoolibooloo  ;  but  we  have  observed 
him  leave  off  eating,  and  have  his 
victuals  put  aside,  when  the  latter 
came  into  the  same  house.  Latooli- 
booloo assumed  the  privilege  of  taking 
anything  from  the  people,  even  if  it 
belonged  to  the  King ;  and  yet,  in 
the  ceremony  called  "Natche,"  he 
assisted  only  in  the  same  manner  as 
the  other  principal  men.  He  was 
looked  upon  by  his  countrymen  as  a 
madman  ;  and  many  of  his  actions 
seemed  to  confirm  this  judgment. 
At  Eooa  they  showed  me  a  good  deal 
of  land  said  to  belong  to  him  ;  and  I 
saw  there  a  son  of  his,  a  child  whom 
they  distinguished  by  the  same  title 
as  his  father.  The  son  of  the  greatest 
prince  in  Europe  could  not  be  more 
humoured  and  caressed  than  this  little 
"  Tammaha  "  was.2 

1  In  Chapter  VII.  of  this   Book, 
ante,  p.  135. 

2  The  remainder  of  the  Chapter  is 
omitted  ;  it  is  taken  up  with  linguis- 
tic speculations,  and  lists  of  similar 
words  current  at  the  Friendly  Islands 
and  Otaheite  ;    and  with  a  technical 
record  of  the  nautical  and  astronomi- 
cal observations  made  during  the  so- 
journ at  Tongataboo. 


168 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.         [VoY.  III.  B.  III.  CH.  I 


BOOK  III. 

TRANSACTIONS   AT   OTAHEITE,    AND   THE   SOCIETY   ISLANDS  J   AND 
PROSECUTION  OF  THE  VOYAGE  TO  THE  COAST  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 


CHAPTER  I. 

HAVING  taken  our  final  leave  of  the 
Friendly  Islands,  I  now  resume  my 
narrative  of  the  voyage.  In  the  even- 
ing of  the  17th  of  July,  at  8  o'clock, 
the  body  of  Eooa  bore  NE.  by  N., 
distant  three  or  four  leagues.  The 
wind  was  now  at  E.,  and  blew  a  fresh 
gale.  With  it  I  stood  to  the  S.  till 
half-an-hour  past  6  o'clock  the  next 
morning,  when  a  sudden  squall  from 
the  same  direction  took  our  ship 
aback  ;  and  before  the  sails  could  be 
trimmed  on  the  other  tack,  the  main- 
sail and  top-gallant  sails  were  much 
torn.  The  wind  kept  between  the 
SW.  and  SE.  on  the  19th  and  20th; 
afterward  it  veered  to  the  ENE. ,  and 
N.  The  night  between  the  20th  and 
21st  an  eclipse  of  the  moon  was 
observed.  I  continued  to  stretch  to 
the  ESE.,  with  the  wind  at  NE.  and 
N.,  without  meeting  with  anything 
worthy  of  note  till  7  o'clock  in  the 
evening  of  the  29th,  when  we  had  a 
sudden  and  very  heavy  squall  of  wind 
from  the  N.  At  this  time  we  were 
under  single  reefed  topsails,  courses, 
and  stay-sails.  Two  of  the  latter  were 
blown  to  pieces ;  and  it  was  with 
difficulty  that  we  saved  the  other 
sails.  After  this  squall,  we  observed 
several  lights  moving  about  on  board 
the  Discovery,  by  which  we  concluded 
that  something  had  given  way  ;  and 
the  next  morning  we  saw  that  her 
main -topmast  had  been  lost.  Both 
wind  and  weather  continued  very  un- 
settled till  noon  this  day,  when  the 
latter  cleared  up,  and  the  former 
settled  in  the  NW.  quarter.  At  this 
time  we  were  in  the  Latitude  of  28° 
6'  S.,  and  our  Longitude  was  198° 
23'  E.  Here  we  saw  some  pintado 
birds,  being  the  first  since  we  left  the 
land. 
On  the  31st  at  noon  Captain  Clerke 


made  a  signal  to  speak  with  me.  By 
the  return  of  the  boat  which  I  sent 
on  board  his  ship,  he  informed  me 
that  the  head  of  the  mainmast  had 
been  discovered  to  be  sprung  in  such 
a  manner  as  to  render  the  rigging  of 
another  topmast  very  dangerous,  and 
that  therefore  he  must  rig  something 
lighter  in  its  place.  He  also  inform ea 
me  that  he  had  lost  his  maintop- 
gallantyard,  and  that  he  neither  had 
another  nor  a  spar  to  make  one  on 
board.  The  Resolution's  spritsail 
and  topsail-yard,  which  I  sent  him, 
supplied  this  want.  The  next  day 
we  got  up  a  jury  topmast,  on  which 
he  set  a  mizzen  topsail,  and  this  en- 
abled him  to  keep  way  with  the  Re- 
solution. The  wind  was  fixed  in  tha 
western  board — that  is,  from  the  N. 
round  by  the  W.  to  S.,  and  I  steered 
E.  and  NE.,  without  meeting  with 
anything  remarkable,  till  11  o'clock 
in  the  morning  of  the  8th  of  August, 
when  the  land  was  seen  bearing  NNE. 
nine  or  ten  leagues  distant.  At  first 
it  appeared  in  detached  hills,  like  so 
many  separate  islands,  but  as  we  drew 
nearer  we  found  that  they  were  all 
connected,  and  belonged  to  one  and 
the  same  island.  I  steered  directly 
for  it,  with  a  fine  gale  at  SE.  by  S. , 
and  at  half-past  6  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon  it  extended  from  N.  by  E. 
to  NNE.  three-quarters  E.,  distant 
three  or  four  leagues. 

The  night  was  spent  standing  off 
and  on,  and  at  daybreak  the  next 
morning  I  steered  for  the  NW.,  or 
leeside  of  the  island ;  and  as  we 
stood  round  its  S.  or  SW.  part,  we 
saw  it  everywhere  guarded  by  a  reef 
of  coral  rock,  extending  in  some  places 
a  full  mile  from  the  land,  and  a  high 
surf  beating  upon  it.  Some  thought 
that  they  saw  land  to  the  southward 
of  this  island,  but  as  that  was  to  the 
windward  it  was  left  undetermined. 


AUG.  1777.]       THE  ISLAND  TOOBOUAI  DISCOVERED. 


As  we  drew  near  we  saw  people  on 
several  parts  of  the  coast,  walking  or 
running  along  shore,  and  in  a  little 
time  after  we  had  reached  the  leeside 
of  the  island  we  saw  them  launch  two 
canoes,  into  which  above  a  dozen  men 
got,  and  paddled  toward  us.  I  now 
shortened  sail,  as  well  to  give  these 
canoes  time  to  come  up  with  us,  as  to 
sound  for  anchorage.  At  the  distance 
of  about  half-a-mile  from  the  reef  we 
found  from  forty  to  thirty-five  fathoms 
water,  over  a  bottom  of  fiue  sand. 
Nearer  in,  the  bottom  was  strewed 
with  coral  rocks.  The  canoes  having 
advanced  to  about  the  distance  of  a 
pistol-shot  from  the  ship,  there  stop- 
ped. Omai  was  employed,  as  he 
usually  had  been  on  such  occasions, 
to  use  all  his  eloquence  to  prevail 
upon  the  men  in  them  to  come  nearer, 
but  no  entreaties  could  induce  them 
to  trust  themselves  within  our  reach. 
They  kept  eagerly  pointing  to  the 
shore  with  their  paddles,  and  calling 
to  us  to  go  thither ;  and  several  of 
their  countrymen  who  stood  upon  the 
beach  held  up  something  white,  which 
.  we  considered  also  as  an  invitation  to 
land.  "We  could  very  well  have  done 
this,  as  there  was  good  anchorage 
without  the  reef,  and  a  break  or  open- 
ing in  it,  from  whence  the  canoes  had 
come  out,  which  had  no  surf  upon  it, 
and  where,  if  there  was  not  water  for 
the  ships,  there  was  more  than  suffi- 
cient for  the  boats.  But  I  did  not 
think  proper  to  risk  losing  the  advan- 
tage of  a  fair  wind  for  the  sake  of 
examining  an  island  that  appeared  to 
be  of  little  consequence.  We  stood 
in  no  need  of  refreshments,  if  I  had 
been  sure  of  meeting  with  them  there  ; 
and  having  already  been  so  unexpect- 
edly delayed  in  my  progress  to  the 
Society  Islands,  I  was  desirous  of 
avoiding  every  possibility  of  further 
retardment.  For  this  reason,  after 
making  several  unsuccessful  attempts 
to  induce  these  people  to  come  along- 
side, I  made  sail  to  the  north,  and 
left  them,  but  not  without  getting 
from  them  during  their  vicinity  to 
our  ship  the  name  of  their  island, 
which  they  called  Toobouai.  It  is 
situated  in  the  Latitude  of  22°  15'  S., 


169 

and  in  210°  37'  E.  Longitude.  Its 
greatest  extent  in  any  direction,  ex- 
clusive of  the  reef  is  not  above  five  or 
six  miles. 

After  leaving  this  island,  I  steered 
to  the  N.  with  a  fresh  gale  at  E.  by 
S.,  and  at  daybreak  in  the  morning 
of  the  12th  we  saw  the  island  of 
Maitea.  Soon  after  Otaheite  made 
its  appearance,  and  at  noon  it  ex- 
tended from  SW.  by  W.  to  WNW., 
the  point  of  Oheitepeha  Bay,  bearing 
W.,  about  four  leagues  distant.  I 
steered  for  this  bay,  intending  to 
anchor  there,  in  order  to  draw  what 
refreshments  I  could  from  the  SE. 
part  of  the  island  before  I  went  down 
to  Matavai,  from  the  neighbourhood 
of  which  station  I  expected  my  prin- 
cipal supply.  "We  had  a  fresh  gale 
easterly  till  2  o'clock  in  the  afternoon, 
when,  being  about  a  league  from  the 
bay,  the  wind  suddenly  died  away, 
and  was  succeeded  by  baffling  light 
airs  from  every  direction,  and  calms 
by  turns.  This  lasted  about  two 
hours  ;  then  we  had  sudden  squalls, 
with  rain,  from  the  east.  These 
carried  us  before  the  bay,  where  wo 
got  a  breeze  from  the  land,  and  at- 
tempted in  vain  to  work  in,  to  gain 
the  anchoring  place  ;  so  that  at  last, 
about  9  o'clock,  we  were  obliged  to 
stand  out  and  to  spend  the  night  at 
sea. 

When  we  first  drew  near  the  island 
several  canoes  came  off  to  the  ship, 
each  conducted  by  two  or  three  men. 
But  as  they  were  common  fellows, 
Omai  took  no  particular  notice  of 
them,  nor  they  of  him.  They  did 
not  even  seem  to  perceive  that  he  was 
one  of  their  countrymen,  although 
they  conversed  with  him  for  some 
time.  At  length  a  chief  whom  I  had 
known  before,  named  Ootee,  and 
Omai's  brother-in-law,  who  chanced 
to  be  now  at  this  corner  of  the  island, 
and  three  or  four  more  persons,  all  of 
whom  knew  Omai  before  he  embarked 
with  Captain  Furneaux,  came  on 
board.  Yet  there  was  nothing  either 
tender  or  striking  in  their  meeting. 
On  the  contrary,  there  seemed  to  be 
a  perfect  indifference  on  both  sides, 
till  Omai,  having  taksn  his  brother 


170 

down   into    the    cabin,    opened    the 
drawer  where  he  kept  his  red  feathers, 
and  gave  him  a  few.     This  being  pre- 
sently known  amongst  the  rest  of  the 
natives  upon  deck,  the  face  of  affairs 
was  entirely  turned,  and  Ootee,  who 
would  hardly  speak  to  Omai  before, 
now    begged    that    they    might    be 
"tayos,"1     and     exchange     names. 
Omai   accepted   of  the   honour,  and 
confirmed   it  with  a  present  of  red 
feathers,  and  Ootee,  by  way  of  return, 
sent  ashore  for  a  hog.     But  it  was 
evident  to  every  one  of  us  that  it  was 
not  the  man,  but  his  property,  they 
were  in   love  with.       Had    he  not 
shown  them  his  treasure  of  red  fea- 
thers,   which    is    the   commodity  in 
greatest  estimation  at  the  island,  I 
question  much  whether  they  would 
have  bestowed  even  a  cocoa-nut  upon 
him.    Such  was  Omai's  first  reception 
among  his  countrymen.    I  own  I  never 
expected  it  would  be  otherwise,  but  still 
I  was  in  hopes  that  the  valuable  cargo 
of  presents  with  which  the  liberality 
of  his  friends  in  England  had  loaded 
him  would  be  the  means  of  raising 
him  into  consequence,  and  of  making 
him  respected  and  even  courted  by 
the  first  persons  throughout  the  ex- 
tent of  the  Society  Islands.      This 
could  not  but  have  happened  had  he 
conducted  himself  with  any  degree  of 
prudence.     But  instead  of  it,  I  am 
sorry  to  say  that  he  paid  too  little 
regard  to  the  repeated  advice  of  those 
who  wished  him  well,  and  suffered 
himself  to  be  duped  by  eveiy  design 
ing  knave. 

From  the  natives  who  came  off  to 
us  in  the  course  of  this  day  we  learned 
that  two  ships  had  twice  been  in 
Oheitepeha  Bay  since  my  last  visit  to 
this  island,  in  1774,  and  that  they 
had  left  animals  there  such  as  we  had 
on  board.  But  on  further  inquiry  we 
found  they  were  only  hogs,  dogs, 
goats,  one  bull,  and  the  male  of  some 
other  animal,  which  from  the  imper- 
fect description  now  given  us  we  could 
not  find  out.  They  told  us  that  these 
ships  had  come  from  a  place  called 
"  Iteema,"  by  which  we  guessed  that 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.  [VoY.III.B.IIl.CH.i. 
Lima,  the  capital  of  Peru,  was  meant, 
and  that  these  late  visitors  were 
Spaniards.  We  were  informed  that 
;he  first  time  they  came  they  built  a 
house,  and  left  four  men  behind  them 
— viz.,  two  priests,  a  boy  or  servant, 


Friends. 


and  a  fourth  person,  called  Mateema, 
who  was  much  spoken  of  at  this  time, 
carrying  away  with  them  when  they 
sailed  four  of  the  natives ;  that  in 
about  ten  months  the  same  two  ships 
returned,  bringing  back  two  of  the 
islanders,  the  other  two  having  died 
at  Lima  ;  and  that  after  a  short  stay 
they  took  away  their  own  peop!e,  but 
that  the  house  which  they  had  built 
was  left  standing. 

The  important  news  of  red  feathers 
being  on  board  our  ships  having  been 
conveyed  on  shore  by  Omai's  friends, 
day  had  no  sooner  begun  to  break  next 
morning  than  we  were  surrounded  by 
a  multitude  of  canoes  crowded  with 
people,  bringing  hogs  and  fruit  to 
market.  At  first,  a  quantity  of  feathers 
not  greater  than  what  might  be  got 
from  a  torn-tit  would  purchase  a  hog 
of  forty  or  fifty  pounds  weight.  But 
as  almost  everybody  in  the  ships  was 
possessed  of  some  of  this  precious 
article  in  trade,  it  fell  in  its  value 
above  500  per  cent,  before  night.  How- 
ever, even  then  the  balance  was  much 
in  our  favour  ;  and  red  feathers  con- 
tinued to  preserve  their  superiority 
over  every  other  commodity.  Some 
of  the  natives  would  not  part  with  a 
hog  unless  they  received  an  axe  in 
exchange ;  but  nails,  and  beads,  and 
other  trinkets,  which  during  our  for- 
mer voyages  had  so  great  a  run  at 
this  island,  were  now  so  much  despised 
that  few  would  deign  so  much  as  to 
look  at  them. 

There  being  but  little  wind  all  the 
morning,  it  was  9  o'clock  before  we 
could  get  to  an  anchor  in  the  bay, 
where  we  moored  with  two  bowers. 
Soon  after  we  had  anchored,  Omai's 
sister  came  on  board  to  see  him.  I 
was  happy  to  observe  that,  much  to 
the  honour  of  them  both,  their  meet- 
ing was  marked  with  expressions  of 
the  tenderest  affection,  easier  to  be 
conceived  than  to  be  described.  This 
moving  scene  having  closed,  and  the 


AUG.  1777.J  TRACES  OF  A  VISIT 
ship  being  properly  moored,  Omai  and 
1  went  ashore.  Sly  first  object  was 
to  pay  a  visit  to  a  man  whom  my 
friend  represented  as  a  very  extra- 
ordinary personage  indeed,  for  he 
said  that  he  was  the  god  of  Bolabola. 
We  found  him  seated  under  one  of 
those  small  awnings  which  they  usually 
carry  in  their  larger  canoes.  He  was 
an  elderly  man,  and  had  lost  the  use 
of  his  limbs,  so  that  he  was  carried 
from  place  to  place  upon  a  hand-bar- 
row. Some  called  him  "Olla"  or 
"Orra,"  which  is  the  name  of  the 
god  of  Bolabola ;  but  his  own  proper 
name  was  Etary.  From  Omai's  ac- 
count of  this  person  I  expected  to 
have  seen  some  religious  adoration 
p;dd  to  him  ;  but  excepting  some 
plantain  trees  that  lay  before  him 
and  uuon  the  awning  under  which  he 
sat,  I  could  observe  nothing  by  which 
he  might  be  distinguished  from  their 
other  chiefs.  Omai  presented  to  him 
a  tuft  of  red  feathers  tied  to  the  end 
of  a  small  stick  ;  but,  after  a  little 
conversation  on  indifferent  matters 
with  this  Bolabola  man,  his  attention 
was  drawn  to  an  old  woman,  the  sister 
of  his  mother.  She  was  already  at 
his  feet,  and  had  bedewed  them  plen- 
tifully with  tears  of  joy. 

I  left  him  with  the  old  lady,  in  the 
midst  of  a  number  of  people  who  had 
gathered  round  him,  and  went  to 
take  a  view  of  the  house  said  to  be 
built  by  the  strangers  who  had  lately 
been  here.  I  found  it  standing  at  a 
small  distance  from  the  beach.  The 
wooden  materials  of  which  it  was  com- 
posed seemed  to  have  been  brought 
hither  ready  prepared,  to  be  set  up 
occasionally  ;  for  all  the  planks  were 
numbered.  It  was  divided  into  two 
small  rooms  ;  and  in  the  inner  one 
were  a  bedstead,  a  table,  a  bench, 
some  old  hats,  and  other  trifles,  of 
which  the  natives  seemed  to  be  very 
careful,  as  also  of  the  house  itself, 
which  had  suffered  no  hurt  from  the 
weather,  a  shed  having  been  built 
over  it.  There  were  scuttles  all  around 
which  served  as  air  holes  ;  and  per- 
haps they  were  also  meant  to  fire  from 
with  muskets,  if  ever  this  should  be 
found  necessary.  At  a  little  distance 


MADE  BY  SPANIARDS.  171 

from  the  front  stood  a  wooden  cross, 
on  the  transverse  part  of  which  was 
cut  the  following  inscription  : 

"  Christus  vinctt." 

And  on  the  perpendicular  part  (which 
confirmed  our  conjecture  that  the  two 
ships  were  Spanish) : 

"CarolusIII.  Imperat.  1774." 

On  the  other  side  of  tho  post  I  pre- 
served the  memory  of  the  prior  visits 
of  the  English  by  inscribing  : 

"  Georgius  Tertius  Rex, 

Annis  1767, 
1769,  1773,  1774,  &  1777." 

The  natives  pointed  out  to  us,  near 
the  foot  of  the  cross,  the  grave  of  the 
Commodore  of  the  two  ships,  who  had 
died  here  while  they  lay  in  the  baj? 
the  first  time.  His  name,  as  they 
pronounced  it,  was  Oreede.  What- 
ever the  intentions  of  the  Spaniards 
in  visiting  this  island  might  be,  they 
seemed  to  have  taken  great  pains  to 
ingratiate  themselves  with  the  inha- 
bitants ;  who  upon  every  occasion 
mentioned  them  with  the  strongest 
expressions  of  esteem  and  veneration. 

I  met  with  no  chief  of  any  consider- 
able note  on  this  occasion  excepting 
the  extraordinary  personage  above  de- 
scribed. Waheiadooa,  the  sovereign 
of  Tiaraboo  (as  this  part  of  the  island 
is  called),  was  now  absent ;  and  I 
afterwards  found  that  he  was  not 
the  same  person,  though  of  the  same 
name,  with  the  chief  whom  I  had 
seen  here  during  my  last  voyage,  but 
his  brother,  a  boy  of  about  ten  years 
of  age,  who  had  succeeded  upon  the 
death  of  the  elder  Waheiadooa,  about 
twenty  months  before  our  arrival.  We 
also  learned  that  the  celebrated  Oberea 
was  dead,  but  that  Otoo  and  all  our 
other  friends  were  living.  When  I 
returned  from  viewing  the  house  and 
cross  erected  by  the  Spaniards,  I 
found  Omai  holding  forth  to  a  large 
company ;  and  it  was  with  some  diffi- 
culty that  he  could  be  got  away  to 
accompany  me  on  board,  where  I  had 
an  important  affair  to  settle. 

On  our  landing  [on  the  17th]  we 
first  visited  Etary,  who,  carried  on  a 


172 

hand-barrow,  attended  us  to  a  large 
house,  where  he  was  set  down,  and 
we  seated  ourselves  on  each  side  of 
him.  I  caused  a  piece  of  Tongataboo 
cloth  to  be  spread  out  before  us,  on 
which  I  laid  the  presents  I  intended 
to  make.  Presently  the  young  chief 
came,  attended  by  his  mother  and 
several  principal  men,  who  all  seated 
themselves  at  the  other  end  of  the 
cloth,  facing  us.  Then  a  man  who 
sat  by  me  made  a  speech,  consisting 
of  short  and  separate  sentences,  part 
of  which  was  dictated  by  those  about 
him.  He  was  answered  by  one  from 
the  opposite  side,  near  the  chief. 
Etary  spoke  next,  then  Omai ;  and 
both  of  them  were  answered  from  the 
same  quarter.  These  orations  were 
entirely  about  my  arrival,  and  con- 
nections with  them.  The  person  who 
spoke  last  told  me,  amongst  other 
things,  that  the  men  of  "Keema," 
that  is,  the  Spaniards,  had  desired 
them  not  to  suffer  me  to  come  into 
Oheitepeha  Bay  if  I  should  return 
any  more  to  the  island,  for  that  it 
belonged  to  them  ;  but  that  they  were 
so  far  from  paying  any  regard  to  this 
request,  that  he  was  authorised  now 
to  make  a  formal  surrender  of  the 
province  of  Tiaraboo  to  me,  and  every- 
thing in  it ;  which  marks  very  plainly 
that  these  people  are  no  strangers  to 
the  policy  of  accommodating  them- 
selves to  present  circumstances.  At 
length  the  young  chief  was  directed 
by  his  attendants  to  come  and  em- 
brace me  ;  and  by  way  of  confirming 
this  treaty  of  friendship  we  exchanged 
names.  The  ceremony  being  closed, 
he  and  his  friends  accompanied  me  on 
board  to  dinner. 

Omai  had  prepared  a  "  maro,"  com- 
posed of  red  and  yellow  feathers,  which 
he  intended  for  Otoo,  the  King  of  the 
whole  island ;  and,  considering  where 
we  were,  it  was  a  present  of  very  great 
value.  I  said  all  that  I  could  to  per- 
suade him  not  to  produce  it  now, 
wishing  him  to  keep  it  on  board  till 
an  opportunity  should  offer  oi  pre- 
senting it  to  Otoo  with  his  own  hands. 
But  he  had  too  good  an  opinion  of  the 
honesty  and  fidelity  of  his  country- 
men to  take  my  advice.  Nothing 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.         [VoY.  III.  B.  III.  CH.  I. 


would  serve  him  but  to  carry  it  ashore 
on  this  occasion,  and  to  give  it  to 
Waheiadooa,  to  be  by  him  forwarded 
to  Otoo,  in  order  to  its  being  added 
to  the  royal  "maro."  He  thought 
by  this  management  that  he  should 
oblige  both  chiefs ;  whereas  he  highly 
disobliged  the  one  whose  favour  was 
of  the  most  consequence  to  him,  with- 
out gaining  any  reward  from  the 
other.  "What  I  had  foreseen  hap- 
pened ;  for  Waheiadooa  kept  the 
"maro"  for  himself,  and  only  sent 
to  Otoo  a  very  small  piece  of  feathers, 
not  the  twentieth  part  of  what  be- 
longed to  the  magnificent  present.  On 
the  19th  this  young  chief  made  me  a 
present  of  ten  or  a  dozen  hogs,  a  quan- 
tity of  fruit,  and  some  cloth.  In  the 
evening  we  played  off  some  fireworks, 
which  both  astonished  and  entertain*!?! 
the  numerous  spectators. 

This  day  some  of  our  gentlemen  in 
their  walks  found  what  they  were 
pleased  to  call  a  Roman  Catholic 
chapel.  Indeed,  from  their  account, 
this  was  not  to  be  doubted,  for  they 
described  the  altar  and  every  other 
constituent  part  of  such  a  place  of 
worship.  However,  as  they  men- 
tioned at  the  same  time  that  two  men 
who  had  the  care  of  it  would  not  suffer 
them  to  go  in,  I  thought  that  they 
might  be  mistaken,  and  had  the 
curiosity  to  pay  a  visit  to  it  myself. 
The  supposed  chapel  proved  to  be  a 
"  toopapaoo,"  in  which  the  remains 
of  the  late  Waheiadooa  lay  as  it  were 
in  state.  It  was  in  a  pretty  large 
house,  which  was  enclosed  with  a  low 
palisade.  The  "toopapaoo  "  was  un- 
commonly neat,  and  resembled  one 
of  those  little  houses,  or  awnings,  be- 
longing to  their  large  canoes.  Per- 
haps it  had  originally  been  employed 
for  that  purpose.  It  was  covered, 
and  hung  round  with  cloth  and  mats 
of  different  colours  so  as  to  have  a 
pretty  effect.  There  was  one  piece  of 
scarlet  broad-cloth  four  or  five  yards 
in  length  conspicuous  among  the 
other  ornaments,  which  no  doubt  had 
been  a  present  from  the  Spaniards. 
This  cloth,  and  a  few  tassels  of  feathers 
which  our  gentlemen  supposed  to  be 
silk,  suggested  to  them  the  idea  of  a 


AUG.  1777.] 


A  MAD  PROPHET. 


173 


chapel ;  for  whatever  else  was  want- 
ing to  create  a  resemblance,  their  im- 
agination supplied ;  and  if  they  had 
not  previously  known  that  there  had 
been  Spaniards  lately  here  they  could 
not  possibly  have  made  the  mistake. 
Small  offerings  of  fruit  and  roots 
seemed  to  be  daily  made  at  this  shrine, 
as  some  pieces  were  quite  fresh.  These 
were  deposited  upon  a  "whatta,"  or 
altar,  which  stood  without  the  pali- 
sades ;  and  within  these  we  were  not 
permitted  to  enter.  Two  men  con- 
stantly attended  night  and  day,  not 
only  to  watch  over  the  place,  but  also 
to  dress  and  undress  the  ' '  toopapaoo. " 
For  when  I  first  went  to  survey  it,  the 
cloth  and  its  appendages  were  all 
rolled  up  ;  but  at  my  request  the  two 
attendants  hung  it  out  in  order,  first 
dressing  themselves  in  clean  white 
robes.  They  told  me  that  the  chief 
had  been  dead  twenty  months. 

Having  taken  in  a  fresh  supply  of 
water,  and  finished  all  our  other  ne- 
cessary operations,  on  the  22d  I 
brought  off  the  cattle  and  sheep  which 
had  been  put  on  shore  here  to  graze, 
and  made  ready  for  sea.  In  the 
morning  of  the  23d,  while  the  ships 
were  unmooring,  Omai  and  I  landed 
to  take  leave  of  the  young  chief. 
While  we  were  with  him,  one  of  those 
enthusiastic  persons  whom  they  call 
"  Eatooas,"  from  a  persuasion  that 
they  are  possessed  with  the  spirit  of 
the  Divinity,  came  and  stood  before 
us.  He  had  all  the  appearance  of  a 
man  not  in  his  right  senses,  and  his 
only  dress  was  a  large  quantity  of 
plantain  leaves  wrapped  round  his 
waist.  He  spoke  in  a  low  squeaking 
voice  so  as  hardly  to  be  understood, 
at  least  not  by  me.  But  Omai  said 
that  he  comprehended  him  perfectly, 
and  that  he  was  advising  Waheiadooa 
not  to  go  with  me  to  Matavai,  an  ex- 
pedition which  I  had  never  heard  he 
intended,  nor  had  I  ever  made  such  a 
proposal  to  him.  The  "  Eatooa  "  also 
foretold  that  the  ships  would  not  get 
to  Matavai  that  day.  But  in  this  he 
was  mistaken,  though  appearances 
.low  rather  favoured  his  prediction, 
there  not  being  a  breath  of  wind  in 
any  direction.  While  he  was  prophe- 


sying, there  fell  a  very  heavy  shower 
of  rain,  which  made  every  one  run  for 
shelter  but  himself,  who  seemed  not 
to  regard  it.  He  remained  squeaking 
by  us  about  half-an-hour,  and  then 
retired.  No  one  paid  any  attention " 
to  what  he  uttered,  though  some 
laughed  at  him.  I  asked  the  chief 
what  he  was,  whether  an  "  Earee  "  or  a 
"Tow tow,"  and  the  answer  I  received 
was,  that  he  was  "taato  eno,"  that 
is,  a  bad  man.  And  yet,  notwith- 
standing this,  and  the  little  notice 
any  of  the  natives  seemed  to  take  of 
the  mad  prophet,  superstition  has  so 
far  got  the  'better  of  their  reason  that 
they  firmly  believe  such  persons  to  be 
possessed  with  the  spirit  of  the  ' '  Ea- 
tooa." Omai  seemed  to  be  very  well 
instructed  about  them.  He  said  that 
during  the  fits  that  came  upon  them 
they  knew  nobody,  not  even  their 
most  intimate  acquaintances ;  and 
that  if  any  one  of  them  happens  to  be 
a  man  of  property  he  will  very  often 
give  away  every  movable  he  is  pos- 
sessed of  if  his  friends  do  not  put 
them  out  of  his  reach  ;  and  when  he 
recovers,  will  inquire  what  had  be- 
come of  those  very  things  which  he 
had  but  just  before  distributed,  not 
seeming  to  have  the  least  remembrance 
of  what  he  had  done  while  the  fit  was 
upon  him. 

As  soon  as  I  got  on  board  a  light 
breeze  springing  up  at  E.,  we  got 
under  sail  and  steered  for  Matavai 
Bay,  where  the  Resolution  anchored 
the  same  evening.  But  the  Discovery 
did  not  get  in  till  the  next  morning, 
so  that  half  of  the  man's  prophecy 
was  fulfilled. 


CHAPTER  II. 

ABOUT  9  o'clock  in  the  morning,  Otoo, 
the  King  of  the  whole  island,  attended 
by  a  great  number  of  canoes  full  of 
people,  came  from  Oparre,  his  place 
of  residence ;  and  having  landed  on 
Matavai  Point,  sent  a  message  on 
board  expressing  his  desire  to  see  me 
there.  Accordingly  I  landed,  accom- 
panied by  Omai  and  some  of  the  offi- 


174 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.       [VoY.  III.  B.  III.  Cii.  II. 


cers.  We  found  a  prodigious  number 
of  people  assembled  on  this  occasion, 
and  in  the  midst  of  them  was  the 
King,  attended  by  his  father,  his  two 
brothers,  and  three  sisters.  I  went 
up  first  and  saluted  him,  being  fol- 
lowed by  Oinai,  who  kneeled  and  em- 
braced his  legs.  He  had  prepared 
himself  for  this  ceremony  by  dressing 
himself  in  his  very  best  suit  of  clothes, 
and  behaved  with  a  great  deal  of  re- 
spect and  modesty.  Nevertheless, 
very  little  notice  was  taken  of  him. 
Perhaps  envy  had  some  share  in  pro- 
ducing this  cold  reception.  He  made 
the  chief  a  present  of  a  large  piece  of 
red  feathers  and  about  two  or  three 
yards  of  gold  cloth  ;  and  I  gave  him 
a  suit  of  fine  linen,  a  gold-laced  hat, 
some  tools,  and,  what  was  of  more 
value  than  all  the  other  articles,  a 
quantity  of  red  feathers  and  one  of 
the  bonnets  in  use  at  the  Friendly 
Islands. 

After  the  hurry  of  this  visit  .was 
over,  the  King  and  the  whole  royal 
family  accompanied  me  on  board,  fol- 
lowed by  several  canoes  laden  with  all 
kinds  of  provisions,  in  quantity  suffi- 
cient to  have  served  the  companies  of 
both  ships  for  a  week.  Each  of  the 
family  owned,  or  pretended  to  own, 
a  part,  so  that  I  had  a  present  from 
every  one  of  them  ;  and  every  one  of 
them  had  a  separate  present  in  return 
from  me,  which  was  the  great  object 
in  view.  Soon  after,  the  King's 
mother,  who  had  not  been  present  at 
the  first  interview,  came  on  board, 
bringing  with  her  a  quantity  of  pro- 
visions and  cloth,  which  she  divided 
between  me  and  Omai.  For  although 
he  was  but  little  noticed  at  first  by 
his  countrymen,  they  no  sooner 
gained  the  knowledge  of  his  riches 
than  they  began  to  court  his  friend- 
ship. I  encouraged  this  as  much  as 
I  could,  for  it  was  my  wish  to  fix  him 
with  Otoo.  As  I  intended  to  leave  all 
my  European  animals  at  this  island, 
I  thought  he  would  be  able  to  give 
some  instruction  about  the  manage- 
ment of  them  and  about  their  use. 
Besides,  I  knew  and  saw  that  the 
farther  he  was  from  his  native  island 
he  would  be  the  better  respected.  But 


unfortunately  poor  Omai  rejected  my 
advice,  and  conducted  himself  in  so 
imprudent  a  manner  that  he  soon  lost 
the  friendship  of  Otoo,  and  of  every 
other  person  of  note  in  Otaheite.  He 
associated  with  none  but  vagabonds 
and  strangers,  whose  sole  views  were 
to  plunder  him  ;  and  if  I  had  not  in- 
terfered they  would  not  have  left 
him  a  single  article  worth  the  carry- 
ing from  the  island.  This  necessarily 
drew  upon  him  the  ill-will  of  the 
principal  chiefs,  who  found  that  they 
could  not  procure  from  any  one  in  the 
ships  such  valuable  presents  as  Omai 
bestowed  on  the  lowest  of  the  people, 
his  companions. 

As  soon  as  we  had  dined,  a  party 
of  us  accompanied  Otoo  to  Oparre, 
taking  with  us  the  poultry  with 
which  we  were  to  stock  the  island. 
They  consisted  of  a  peacock  and  hen 
(which  Lord  Bessborough  was  so  kind 
as  to  send  me  for  this  purpose  a  few 
days  before  I  left  London),  a  turkey 
cock  and  hen,  one  gander  and  three 
geese,  a  drake  and  four  ducks.  All 
these  I  left  at  Oparre  in  the  possession 
of  Otoo ;  and  the  geese  and  ducks 
began  to  breed  before  we  sailed.  We 
found  there  a  gander  which  the  na- 
tives told  us  was  the  snme  that  Cap- 
tain Wallis  had  given  to  Oberea  ten 
years  before,  several  goats,  and  the 
Spanish  bull,  which  they  kept  tied 
to  a  tree  near  Otoo's  house.  I  never 
saw  a  finer  animal  of  his  kind.  He 
was  now  the  property  of  Etary,  and 
had  been  brought  from  Oheitepeha  to 
this  place  in  order  to  be  shipped  for 
Bolabola.  But  it  passes  rny  com- 
prehension how  they  can  contrive  to 
carry  him  in  one  of  their  canoes.  If 
we  had  not  arrived,  it  would  have 
been  of  little  consequence  who  had 
the  property  of  him,  as  without  a 
cow  he  could  be  of  no  use,  and  none 
had  been  left  with  him.  Though  the 
natives  told  us  that  there  were  cows 
on  board  the  Spanish  ships,  and  that 
they  took  them  away  with  them,  I 
cannot  believe  this,  and  should  rather 
suppose  that  they  had  died  in  the 
passage  from  Lima.  The  next  day  I 
sent  the  three  cows  that  I  had  on 
board  to  this  bull ;  and  the  bull  which 


AUG.  1777.]  EUROPEAN  ANIMALS  LANDED. 

I  had  brought,  the  horse  and  mare, 
and  sheep,  I  put  ashore  at  Matavai. 
Having  thus  disposed  of  these  pas- 
sengers, I  found  myself  lightened  of 
a  very  heavy  burthen.  The  trouble 
and  vexation  that  attended  the  bring- 
ing of  this  living  cargo  thus  far  is 
hardly  to  be  conceived ;  but  the  satis- 
faction that  I  felt  in  having  been  so 
fortunate  as  to  fulfil  his  Majesty's 
humane  design  in  sending  such  valu- 


able animals  to  supply  the  wants  of 
two  worthy  nations,  sufficiently  re- 
compensed me  for  the  many  anxious 
hours  I  had  passed  before  this  subor- 
dinate object  of  my  voyage  could  be 
carried  into  execution. 

As  I  intended  to  make  some  stay 
here,  we  set  up  the  two  observatories 
on  Matavai  Point.  Adjoining  to  them 
two  tonts  were  pitched  for  the  recep- 
tion of  a  guard,  and  of  such  people 
as  it  might  be  necessary  to  leave  on 
shore  in  different  departments.  At 
this  station  I  entrusted  the  command 
to  Mr  King,  who,  at  the  same  time, 
attended  the  observations  for  ascer- 
taining the  going  of  the  time-keeper 
and  other  purposes.  During  our  stay 
various  necessary  operations  employed 
the  crews  of  both  ships.  The  Dis- 
covery's mainmast  was  carried  ashore 
and  made  as  good  as  ever.  Our  sails 
and  water-casks  were  repaired  ;  the 
ships  were  calked  ;  and  the  rigging 
all  overhauled.  We  also  inspected 
all  the  bread  that  we  had  on  board 
in  casks,  and  had  the  satisfaction  to 
find  that  but  little  of  it  was  damaged. 
On  the  26th  I  had  a  piece  of  ground 
cleared  for  a  garden,  and  planted  it 
with  several  articles,  very  few  of 
which  I  believe  the  natives  will  ever 
look  after.  Some  melons,  potatoes, 
and  two  pine-apple  plants  were  in  a 
fair  way  of  succeeding  before  we  left 
the  place.  I  had  brought  from  the 
Friendly  Islands  several  shaddock 
trees.  These  I  also  planted  here,  and 
they  can  hardly  fail  of  success,  unless 
their  growth  should  be  checked  by 
the  same  premature  curiosity  which 
destroyed  a  vine  planted  by  the 
Spaniards  at  Oheitepeha.  A  number 
of  the  natives  got  together  to  taste 
the  first  fruit  it  bore;  but  as  the 


175 

grapes  were  still  sour  they  considered 
it  as  little  better  than  poison,  and  it 
was  unanimously  determined  to  tread 
it  under  foot.  In  that  state  Omai 
found  it  by  chance,  and  was  overjoyed 
at  the  discovery;  for  he  had  a  full 
confidence  that  if  he  had  but  grapes 
he  could  easily  make  wine.  Accord- 
ingly he  had  several  slips  cut  from  off 
the  tree  to  carry  away  with  him,  and 
we  pruned  and  put  in  order  the  re- 


mains of  it.  Probably  grown  wise  by 
Omai's  instructions,  they  may  now 
suffer  the  fruit  to  grow  to  perfection, 
and  not  pass  so  hasty  a  sentence  upon 
it  again. 

We  had  not  been  eight-and-forty 
hours  at  anchor  in  Matavai  Bay  be- 
fore we  were  visited  by  our  old  friends 
whose  names  are  recorded  in  the  ac- 
count of  my  last  voyage.  Not  one  of 
them  came  empty-handed,  so  that  we 
had  more  provisions  than  we  knew 
what  to  do  with.  What  was  still 
more,  we  were  under  no  apprehen- 
sions of  exhausting  the  island,  which 
presented  to  our  eyes  every  mark  of 
the  most  exuberant  plenty  in  every 
article  of  refreshment.  Soon  after 
our  arrival  here,  one  of  the  natives 
whom  the  Spaniards  had  carried  with 
them  to  Lima  paid  us  a  visit ;  but  in 
his  external  appearance  he  was  not 
distinguishable  from  the  rest  of  his 
countrymen.  However,  he  had  not 
forgot  some  Spanish  words  which  he 
had  acquired,  though  he  pronounced 
them  badly.  Amongst  them  the 
most  frequent  were  "  Si,  Seflor ;  "  and 
when  a  stranger  was  introduced  to 
him  he  did  not  fail  to  rise  up  and 
accost  him  as  well  as  he  could.  We 
also  found  here  the  young  man  whom 
we  called  Oedidee,  but  whose  real 
name  is  Heete-heete.  I  had  carried 
him  from  Ulietea  in  1773,  and  brought 
him  back  in  1774,  after  he  had  visited 
the  Friendly  Islands,  New  Zealand, 
Easter  Island,  and  the  Marquesas, 
and  been  on  board  my  ship  in  that 
extensive  navigation  about  seven 
months.  He  was  at  least  as  tenaci- 
ous of  his  good  breeding  as  the  man 
who  had  been  at  Lima,  and  "Yes, 
Sir,"  or  "If  you  please,  Sir,"  were 
as  frequently  repeated  by  him  as  "  Si, 


176 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.         [VoY.IILB.III.Cfl.il. 


Seflur"  was  by  the  other.  Heete- 
lieete,  who  is  a  native  of  Bolabola, 
had  arrived  in  Otaheite  about  three 
months  before,  with  no  other  inten- 
tion that  we  could  learn  than  to  gra- 
tify his  curiosity,  or  perhaps  some 
other  favourite  passion,  which  are 
very  often  the  only  object  of  the 
pursuit  of  other  travelling  gentlemen. 
It  was  evident,  however,  that  he  pre- 
ferred the  modes  and  even  garb  of  his 
countrymen  to  ours ;  for  though  I 
gave  him  some  clothes  which  our  Ad- 
miralty Board  had  been  pleased  to 
send  for  his  use  (to  which  I  added  a 
chest  of  tools  and  a  few  other  articles 
as  a  present  from  myself),  he  declined 
wearing  them  after  a  few  days.  This 
instance,  and  that  of  the  person  who 
bad  been  at  Lima,  may  be  urged  as  a 
proof  of  the  strong  propensity  natural 
to  man  of  returning  to  habits  acquired 
at  an  early  age,  and  only  interrupted 
by  accident.  And  perhaps  it  may  be 
concluded  that  even  Omai,  who  had 
imbibed  almost  the  whole  English 
manners,  will  in  a  very  short  time 
after  our  leaving  him,  like  Oedidee 
and  the  visitor  of  Lima,  return  to  his 
own  native  garments. 

In  the  morning  of  the  27th  a  man 
came  from  Oheitepeha,  and  told  us 
that  two  Spanish  ships  had  anchored 
in  that  bay  the  night  before ;  and  in 
confirmation  of  this  intelligence  he 
produced  a  piece  of  coarse  blue  cloth, 
which  he  said  he  got  out  of  one  of 
the  ships,  and  which,  indeed,  to  ap- 
pearance was  almost  quite  new.  He 
added  that  Mateema  was  in  one  of 
the  ships,  and  that  they  were  to  come 
down  to  Matavai  in  a  day  or  two. 
Some  other  circumstances  which  he 
mentioned  with  the  foregoing  ones, 
gave  the  story  ao  much  the  air  of 
truth,  that  I  despatched  Lieutenant 
Williamson  in  a  boat  to  look  into 
Oheitepeha  Bay ;  and  in  the  mean- 
time I  put  the  ships  into  a  proper 
posture  of  defence.  For  though 
England  and  Spain  were  in  peace 
when  I  left  Europe,  for  aught  I  knew 
a  different  scene  might  by  this  time 
have  opened.  However,  on  further 
inquiry  we  had  reason  to  think  that 
the  fellow  who  brought  the  intelli- 


gence had  imposed  upon  us ;  and  this 
was  put  beyond  all  doubt  when  Mr 
Williamson  returned  next  day,  who 
made  his  report  to  me  that  he  had 
been  at  Oheitepeha,  and  found  that 
no  ships  were  there  now,  and  that 
none  had  been  there  since  we  left  it 
The  people  of  this  part  of  the  island 
where  we  now  were,  indeed,  told  us 
from  the  beginning  that  it  was  a 
fiction  invented  by  those  of  Tiaraboo. 
But  what  view  they  could  have  we 
were  at  a  loss  to  conceive,  unless  they 
supposed  that  the  report  would  have 
some  effect  in  making  us  quit  the 
island,  and  by  that  means  deprive 
the  people  of  Otaheite-nooe  of  the 
advantages  they  might  reap  from  our 
ships  continuing  there;  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  two  parts  of  the  island 
being  inveterate  enemies  to  each  other. 
From  the  time  of  our  arrival  at 
Matavai  the  weather  had  been  very 
unsettled,  with  more  or  less  rain 
every  day,  till  the  29th ;  before  which 
we  were  not  able  to  get  equal  altitudes 
of  the  sun  for  ascertaining  the  going 
of  the  time-keeper.  The  same  cause 
also  retarded  the  calking  and  other 
necessary  repairs  of  the  ships.  In 
the  evening  of  this  day  the  natives 
made  a  precipitate  retreat  both  from 
on  board  the  ships  and  from  our 
station  on  shore,  for  what  reason  we 
could  not  at  first  learn,  though  in 
general  we  guessed  it  arose  from  their 
knowing  that  some  theft  had  been 
committed,  and  apprehending  punish- 
ment on  that  account.  At  length  I 
understood  what  had  happened.  One 
of  the  surgeon's  mates  had  been  in 
the  country  to  purchase  curiosities, 
and  had  taken  with  him  four  hatchets 
for  that  purpose.  Having  employed 
one  of  the  natives  to  carry  them  for 
him,  the  fellow  took  an  opportunity 
to  run  off  with  so  valuable  a  prize. 
This  was  the  cause  of  the  sudden 
flight,  in  which  Otoo  himself  and  his 
whole  family  had  joined ;  and  it  was 
with  difficulty  that  I  stopped  them, 
after  following  them  two  or  three 
miles.  As  I  had  resolved  to  take  no 
measures  for  the  recovery  of  the 
hatchets,  in  order  to  put  my  people 
upon  their  guard  against  such  negli- 


SEPT.  1777.]  WAR  WITH  EIMEO 
gence  for  the  future,  I  found  no  diffi- 
culty in  bringing  the  natives  back  and 
in  restoring  everything  to  its  usual 
tranquillity. 

Hitherto  the  attention  of  Otoo  and 
his  people  had  been  confined  to  us; 
but  next  morning  a  new  scene  of 
business  opened  by  the  arrival  of 
some  messengers  from  Eimeo  or  (as 
it  is  much  oftener  called  by  the  na- 
tives) Morea,1  with  intelligence  that 
the  people  in  that  island  were  in 
arms,  and  that  Otoo's  partisans  there 
had  been  worsted  and  obliged  to  re- 
treat to  the  mountains.  The  quarrel 
between  the  two  islands,  which  com- 
menced in  1774,  had,  it  seems,  partly 
subsisted  ever  since.  .  .  . 

On  the  arrival  of  these  messengers, 
all  the  chiefs  who  happened  to  be  at 
Matavai  assembled  at  Otoo's  house, 
where  I  actually  was  at  the  time,  and 
had  the  honour  to  be  admitted  into 
their  council.  One  of  the  messengers 
opened  the  business  of  the  assembly 
in  a  speech  of  considerable  length  ; 
but  I  understood  little  of  it  besides 
its  general  purport,  which  was  to  ex- 
plain the  situation  of  affairs  in  Eimeo, 
and  to  excite  the  assembled  chiefs  of 
Otaheite  to  arm  on  the  occasion. 
This  opinion  was  combated  by  others 
who  were  against  commencing  hos- 
tilities ;  and  the  debate  was  carried 
on  with  great  order,  no  more  than 
one  man  speaking  at  a  time.  At  last 
they  became  very  noisy,  and  I  ex- 
pected that  our  meeting  would  have 
ended  like  a  Polish  Diet.  But  the 
contending  great  men  cooled  as  fast 
as  they  grew  warm,  and  order  was 
soon  restored.  At  length  the  party 
for  war  prevailed,  and  it  was  deter- 
mined that  a  strong  force  should  be 
sent  to  assist  their  friends  in  Eimeo. 
But  this  resolution  was  far  from  being 
unanimous.  Otoo  during  the  whole 
debate  remained  silent,  except  that 
now  and  then  he  addressed  a  word  or 
two  to  the  speakers.  Those  of  the 
council  who  were  for  prosecuting  the 
war  applied  to  me  for  my  assistance  ; 
and  all  of  them  wanted  to  know  what 

'  Morea,  according  to  Dr  Forster, 
is  a  district  in  Eimeo. 


DETERMINED  UPOK.  177 

part  I  would  take.  Omai  was  sent  for 
to  be  my  interpreter  ;  but  as  he  could 
not  be  found  I  was  obliged  to  speak 
for  myself,  and  told  them,  as  well  as 
I  could,  that  as  I  was  not  thoroughly 
acquainted  with  the  dispute,  and  as  the 
people  of  Eimeo  had  never  offended 
me,  I  could  not  think  myself  at 
liberty  to  engage  in  hostilities  against 
them.  With  this  declaration  they 
either  were  or  seemed  satisfied.  The 
assembly  then  broke  up  ;  but  before 
I  left  them  Otoo  desired  me  to  come 
to  him  in  the  afternoon,  and  to  bring 
Omai  with  me.  Accordingly,  a  party 
of  us  waited  upon  him  at  the  ap- 
pointed time,  and  we  were  conducted 
by  him  to  his  father,  in  whose  pre- 
sence the  dispute  with  Eimeo  was 
again  talked  over.  Being  very  desir- 
ous of  devising  some  method  to  bring 
about  an  accommodation,  I  sounded 
the  old  chief  on  that  head  ;  but  we 
found  him  deaf  to  any  such  proposal, 
and  fully  determined  to  prosecute  the 
war.  He  repeated  the  solicitations 
which  I  had  already  resisted  about 
giving  them  my  assistance.  On  our 
inquiring  into  the  cause  of  the  war, 
we  were  told,  that  some  years  ago  a 
brother  of  W aheiadooa,  of  Tiaraboo, 
was  sent  to  Eimeo,  at  the  request  of 
Maheine,  a  popular  chief  of  that 
island,  to  be  their  king ;  but  that  he 
had  not  been  there  a  week  before 
Maheine,  haying  caused  him  to  be 
killed,  set  up  for  himself,  in  opposi- 
tion to  Tierataboonooe,  his  sister's  son, 
who  became  the  lawful  heir,  or  else 
had  been  pitched  upon  by  the  people 
of  Otaheite  to  succeed  to  the  govern- 
ment on  the  death  of  the  other. 

Towha,  who  is  a  relation  of  Otoo 
and  chief  of  the  district  of  Tettaha,  a 
man  of  much  weight  in  the  island, 
and  who  had  been  coimnander-in- 
chief  of  the  armament  fitted  out 
against  Eimeo  in  1774,  happened  not 
to  be  at  Matavai  at  this  time,  and 
consequently  was  not  present  at  any 
of  these  consultations.  It,  hoAvever, 
appeared  that  he  was  no  stranger  to 
what  was  transacted,  and  that  he  en- 
tered with  more  spirit  into  the  affair 
than  any  other  chief.  For  early  in  the 

j  morning  of  the  1st  of  September  a 


175 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.       [VoT.IILB.IILCH.lt 


messenger  arrived  from  him  to  ac- 
quaint Otoo  that  he  had  killed  a  man 
to  be  sacrificed  to  "Eatooa,"  to  im- 
plore the  assistance  of  the  god  against 
Eimeo.  This  act  of  worship  was  to 
be  performed  at  the  great  "morai" 
at  Attahooroo,  and  Otoo's  presence,  it 
seems,  was  absolutely  necessary  on  that 
solemn  occasion.  That  the  offering  of 
human  sacrifices  is  part  of  the  religi- 
ous institutions  of  this  island  had 
been  mentioned  by  M.  de  Bougain- 
ville on  the  authority  of  the  native 
whom  he  carried  with  him  to  France. 
During  my  last  visit  to  Otaheite,  and 
while  I  had  opportunities  of  convers- 
ing with  Omai  on  the  subject,  I  had 
satisfied  myself  that  there  was  too 
much  reason  to  admit  that  such  a 
practice,  however  inconsistent  with 
the  general  humanity  of  the  people, 
was  here  adopted.  But  as  this  was 
one  of  those  extraordinary  facts  about 
which  many  are  apt  to  retain  doubts 
unless  the  relater  himself  has  had 
ocular  proofs  to  confirm  what  he  had 
heard  from  others,  I  thought  this  a 
good  opportunity  of  obtaining  the 
highest  evidence  of  its  certainty  by 
being  present  myself  at  the  solemnity, 
and  accordingly  proposed  to  Otoo  that 
I  might  be  allowed  to  accompany  him. 
To  this  he  readily  consented,  and  we 
immediately  set  out  in  my  boat,  with 
my  old  friend  Potatou,  Mr  Anderson, 
and  Mr  Webber,  Omai  following  in  a 
canoe.  In  our  way  we  landed  upon 
a  little  island  which  lies  off  Tettaha, 
where  we  found  Towha  and  his  re- 
tinue. After  some  little  conversation 
between  the  two  chiefs  on  the  subject 
of  the  war,  Towha  addressed  himself 
to  me,  asking  my  assistance.  When 
I  excused  myself,  he  seemed  angry  ; 
thinking  it  strange  that  I,  who  had 
always  declared  myself  to  be  the  friend 
of  their  island,  would  not  now  go  and 
fight  against  its  enemies.  Before  we 
parted,  he  gave  to  Otoo  two  or  three  red 
feathers  tied  up  in  a  tuft,  and  a  lean, 
half-starved  dog  was  put  into  a  canoe 
that  was  to  accompany  us.  We  then  em- 
barked again,  taking  on  board  a  priest 
who  was  to  assist  at  the  solemnity. 

As  soon  as  we  landed  at  Attahooroo, 
which  was  about   2  o'clock  in   the 


afternoon,  Otoo  expressed  his  desire 
that  the  seamen  might  be  ordered  to 
remain  in  the  boat ;  and  that  Mr 
Anderson,  Mr  Webber,  and  myself, 
might  take  off  our  hats  as  soon  as  we 
should  come  to  the  "morai,"  to 
which  we  immediately  proceeded,  at- 
tended by  a  great  many  men  and 
some  boys,  but  not  one  woman.  We 
found  four  priests  and  their  attend- 
ants or  assistants  waiting  for  us.  The 
dead  body,  or  sacrifice,  was  in  a  small 
canoe  that  lay  on  the  beach,  and 
partly  in  the  wash  of  the  sea,  fronting 
the  "morai."  Two  of  the  priests, 
with  some  of  their  attendants,  were 
sitting  by  the  canoe  ;  the  others  at 
the  "morai."  Our  company  stopped 
about  twenty  or  thirty  paces  from  the 
priests.  Here  Otoo  placed  himself; 
we  and  a  few  others  standing  by  him, 
while  the  bulk  of  the  people  remained 
at  a  greater  distance. 

The  ceremonies  now  began.  One 
of  the  priest's  attendants  brought  a 
young  plantain  tree  and  laid  it  down 
before  Otoo.  Another  approached 
with  a  small  tuft  of  red  feathers, 
twisted  on  some  fibres  of  the  cocoa- 
nut  husk,  with  which  he  touched  one 
of  the  King's  feet,  and  then  retired 
with  it  to  his  companions.  One  of  the 
priests  seated  at  the  "  morai,"  facing 
those  who  were  upon  the  beach,  now 
began  a  long  prayer,  and  at  certain 
times  sent  down  young  plantain  trees, 
which  were  laid  upon  the  sacrifice. 
During  this  prayer,  a  man  who  stood 
by  the  officiating  priest  held  in  his 
.hands  two  bundles,  seemingly  of 
cloth.  In  one  of  them,  as  we  after- 
ward found,  was  the  royal  "maro," 
and  the  other,  if  I  may  be  allowed 
the  expression,  was  the  ark  of  the 
"Eatooa."  As  soon  as  the  prayer 
was  ended,  the  priests  at  the  "morai," 
with  their  attendants,  went  and  sat 
down  by  those  upon  the  beach,  carry- 
ing with  them  the  two  bundles. 
Here  they  renewed  their  prayers,  dur- 
ing which  the  plantain  trees  were 
taken  one  by  one,  at  different  times, 
from  off  the  sacrifice,  which  was  partly 
wrapped  up  in  cocoa  leaves  and  small 
branches.  It  was  now  taken  out  oT 
the  canoe,  and  laid  upon  the  beach, 


SEPT.  1777.]  A  HUMAN  SACRIFICE, 

with  the  feet  to  the  sea.  The  priests 
placed  themselves  around  it,  some 
sitting  and  others  standing,  and  one 
or  more  of  them  repeated  sentences 
for  about  ten  minutes.  The  dead 
body  was  now  uncovered,  by  remov- 
ing the  leaves  and  branches,  and  laid 
in  a  parallel  direction  with  the  sea- 
shore. One  of  the  priests  then,  stand- 


ing at  the  feet  of  it,  pronounced  a 
long  prayer,  in  which  he  was  at  times 
joined  by  the  others,  each  holding  in 
his  hand  a  tuft  of  red  feathers.  In 
the  course  of  this  prayer,  some  hair 
was  pulled  off  the  head  of  the  sacri- 
fice, and  the  left  eye  taken  out ;  both 
which  were  presented  to  Otoo,  wrap- 
ped up  in  a  green  leaf.  He  did  not, 
however,  touch  it,  but  gave  to  the 
man  who  presented  it  the  tuft  of 
feathers  which  he  had  received  from 
Towha.  This,  with  the  hair  and 
eye,  was  carried  back  to  the  priests. 
Soon  after,  Otoo  sent  to  them  another 
piece  of  feathers,  which  he  had  given  me 
in  the  morning  to  keep  in  my  pocket. 
During  some  part  of  this  last  cere- 
mony, a  kingfisher  making  a  noise  in 
the  trees,  Otoo  turned  to  me,  saying, 
"  That  is  the  '  Eatooa,'"  and  seemed 
to  look  upon  it  to  be  a  good  omen. 

The  body  was  then  carried  a  little 
way,  with  its  head  toward  the 
'morai,"  and  laid  under  a  tree; 
near  which  were  fixed  three  broad 
thin  pieces  of  wood  differently  but 
rudely  carved.  The  bundles  of  cloth 
were  laid  on  a  part  of  the  "  morai;" 
and  the  tufts  of  red  feathers  were 
placed  at  the  feet  of  the  sacrifice, 
round  which  the  priests  took  their 
stations;  and  we  were  now  allowed 
to  go  as  near  as  we  pleased.  He  who 
seemed  to  be  the  chief  priest  sat  at 
a  small  distance,  and  spoke  for  a 
quarter  of  an  hour,  but  with  different 
tunes  and  gestures ;  so  that  he  seemed 
often  to  expostulate  with  the  dead 
person,  to  whom  he  constantly  ad- 
dressed himself;  and  sometimes  asked 
several  questions,  seemingly  with  re- 
spect to  the  propriety  of  his  having 
been  killed.  At  other  times  he  made 
several  demands,  as  if  the  deceased 
either  now  had  power  himself,  or 
interest  with  the  Divinity,  to  engage 


379 

him  to  comply  with  siich  requests. 
Amongst  which,  we  understood,  he 
asked  him  to  deliver  Eimeo,  Muheine 
its  chief,  the  hogs,  women,  and  other 
things  of  the  island,  into  their  hands ; 
which  was,  indeed,  the  express  inten- 
tion of  the  sacrifice.  He  then  chanted 
a  prayer,  which  lasted  half-an-hour, 
in  a  whining,  melancholy  tone,  ac- 


companied by  two  other  priests;  in 
which  Potatou  and  some  others  joined. 
In  the  course  of  this  prayer  some  more 
hair  was  plucked  by  a  priest  from  the 
head  of  the  corpse,  and  put  upon  one 
of  the  bundles.  After  this  the  chief 
priest  prayed  alone,  holding  in  his 
hand  the  feathers  which  came  from 
Towha.  When  he  had  finished,  he 
gave  them  to  another,  who  prayed  in 
like  manner.  Then  all  the  tufts  of 
feathers  were  laid  upon  the  bundles 
of  cloth ;  which  closed  the  ceremony 
at  this  place. 

The  corpse  was  then  carried  up  to 
the  most  conspicuous  part  of  the 
"morai, "with  the  feathers,  the  twe 
bundles  of  cloth,  and  the  drums ;  the 
last  of  which  beat  slowly.  The 
feathers  and  bundles  were  laid  against 
the  pile  of  stones,  and  the  corpse  at 
the  foot  of  them.  The  priests,  having 
again  seated  themselves  round  it,  re- 
newed their  prayers;  while  some  of 
the  attendants  dug  a  hole  about  two 
feet  deep,  into  which  they  threw  the 
unhappy  victim,  and  covered  it  with 
earth  and  stones.  While  they  were 
putting  him  into  the  grave,  a  boy 
squeaked  aloud,  and  Omai  said  to  me 
that  it  was  the  "Eatooa."  During 
this  time,  a  fire  having  been  made, 
the  dog  before  mentioned  was  pro- 
duced, and  killed  by  twisting  his 
neck  and  suffocating  him.  Th"e  hair 
was  singed  off,  and  the  entrails  taken, 
out  and  thrown  into  the  fire,  where 
they  were  left  to  consume.  But  the 
heart,  liver,  and  kidneys  were  only 
roasted  by  being  laid  on  the  stones 
for  a  few  minutes ;  and  the  body  of 
the  dog,  after  being  besmeared  with 
the  blood  which  had  been  collected  in 
a  cocoa-nut  shell  and  dried  over  the 
fire,  was,  with  the  liyer,  &c.,  carried 
and  laid  down  before  the  priests,  who 
sat  praying  round  the  grave.  They 


180 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.        [VoY.III.B.III.CH.il. 


continued  their  ejaculations  over  the 
dog  for  some  time,  while  two  men,  at 
intervals,  beat  on  two  drams  very 
loud ;  and  a  boy  screamed,  as  before, 
in  a  loud,  shrill  voice  three  different 
times.  This,  as  we  were  told,  was  to 
invite  the  "Eatooa"to  feast  on  the 
banquet  that  they  had  prepared  for 
him.  As  soon  as  the  priests  had 
ended  their  prayers,  the  carcase  of 
the  dog,  with  what  belonged  to  it, 
were  laid  on  a  "  whatta,"  or  scaffold, 
about  six  feet  high,  that  stood  close 
"by,  on  which  lay  the  remains  of  two 
other  dogs  and  of  two  pigs  which  had 
lately  been  sacrificed  and  at  this  time 
emitted  an  intolerable  stench.  This 
kept  us  at  a  greater  distance  than 
would  otherwise  have  been  required 
of  us.  For  after  the  victim  was  re- 
moved from  the  seaside  toward  the 
"morai, "  we  were  allowed  to  approach 
as  near  as  we  pleased.  Indeed,  after 
that,  neither  seriousness  nor  attention 
were  much  observed  by  the  specta- 
tors. When  the  dog  was  put  upon 
the  "  whatta,"  the  priests  and  attend- 
ants gave  a  kind  of  shout,  which 
closed  the  ceremonies  for  the  present. 
The  day  being  now  also  closed,  we 
were  conducted  to  a  house  belonging 
to  Potatou,  where  we  were  entertained 
and  lodged  for  the  night.  We  had 
been  told  that  the  religious  rites 
were  to  be  renewed  in  the  morning; 
and  I  would  not  leave  the  place, 
while  anything  remained  to  be  seen. 

Being  unwilling  to  lose  any  part  of 
the  solemnity,  some  of  us  repaired  to 
the  scene  of  action  pretty  early,  but 
found  nothing  going  forward.  How- 
ever, soon  alter,  a  pig  was  sacrificed 
and  laid  upon  the  same  "whatta'' 
with  the  others.  About  8  o'clock, 
Otoo  took  us  again  to  the  "morai," 
where  the  priests  and  a  great  number 
of  men  were  by  this  time  assembled. 
The  two  bundles  occupied  the  place 
in  which  we  had  seen  them  deposited 
the  preceding  evening;  the  two  drums 
stood  in  the  front  of  the  "morai," 
but  somewhat  nearer  it  than  before; 
and  the  priests  were  beyond  them. 
Gtoo  placed  himself  between  the  two 
drums,  and  desired  me  to  stand  by 
him.  The  ceremony  began  as  usual 


with  bringing  a  young  plantain-tree 
and  laying  it  down  at  the  King's  feet. 
After  this  a  prayer  was  repeated  by 
the  priests,  who  held  in  their  hands 
several  tufts  of  red  feathers,  and  also 
a  plume  of  ostrich  feathers,  which  I 
had  given  to  Otoo  on  my  first  arrival, 
and  which  had  been  consecrated  to 
this  use.  When  the  priests  had  made 
an  end  of  the  prayer,  they  changed 
their  station,  placing  themselves  be- 
tween us  and  the  "  morai ;"  and  one 
of  them — the  same  person  who  had 
acted  the  principal  part  the  day 
before — began  another  prayer,  which 
lasted  about  half-an-hour.  During 
the  continuance  of  this,  the  tufts  of 
feathers  were  one  by  one  carried  and 
laid  upon  the  ark  of  the  "  Eatooa." 

Some  little  time  after,  four  pigs 
were  produced ;  one  of  which  was 
immediately  killed,  and  the  others 
were  taken  to  a  sty  hard  by,  probably 
reserved  for  some  future  occasion  of 
sacrifice.  One  of  the  bundles  was 
now  untied,  and  it  was  found,  as  I 
have  before  observed,  to  contain  the 
"maro,"  with  which  these  people 
invest  their  kings ;  and  which  seems 
to  answer  in  some  degree  to  the  Euro- 
pean ensigns  of  royalty.  It  was  care- 
fully taken  out  of  the  cloth  in  which 
it  had  been  wrapped  up,  and  spread 
at  full  length  upon  the  ground  before 
the  priests.  It  is  a  girdle  about  five 
yards  long  and  fifteen  inches  broad ; 
and  from  its  name  seems  to  be  put  on 
in  the  same  manner  as  is  the  com- 
mon "maro,"  or  piece  of  cloth,  used 
by  these  people  to  wrap  round  the 
waist.  It  was  ornamented  with  red 
and  yellow  feathers,  but  mostly  with 
the  latter,  taken  from  a  dove  found 
upon  the  island.  The  one  end  was 
bordered  with  eight  pieces,  each  about 
the  size  and  shape  of  a  horse-shoe, 
having  their  edges  fringed  with  black 
feathers.  The  other  end  was  forked, 
and  the  points  were  of  different 
lengths.  The  feathers  were  in  square 
compartments,  ranged  in  two  rows, 
and  otherwise  so  disposed  as  to  pro- 
duce a  pleasing  effect.  They  had 
been  first  pasted  or  fixed  upon  some 
of  their  own  country  cloth,  and  then 
sewed  to  the  upper  end  of  tfie  pen- 


SEPT.  1777.]  OTHER  CEREMONIES  AT  THE 
jdant  which  Captain  Wallis  had  dis- 
played, and  left  flying  ashore,  the 
first  time  that  he  landed  at  Matavai. 
This  was  what  they  told  us  ;  and  we 
had  no  reason  to  doubt  it,  as  we 
could  easily  trace  the  remains  of  an 
English  pendant.  About  six  or  eight 
inches  square  of  the  "  maro  "  was  un- 
ornamented ;  there  being  no  feathers 
upon  that  space,  except  a  few  that  had 
been  sent  by  Waheiadooa,  as  already 
mentioned.  The  priests  made  a  long 
prayer  relative  to  this  part  of  the 
ceremony,  and,  if  I  mistook  not,  they 
called  it  the  prayer  of  the  "maro." 
When  it  was  finished,  the  badge  of 
royalty  was  carefully  folded  up,  put 
into  the  cloth,  and  deposited  again 
upon  the  ' '  morai. "  The  other  bundle 
which  I  have  distinguished  by  the 
name  of  the  ark,  was  next  opened  at 
one  end ;  but  we  were  not  allowed  to 
go  near  enough  to  examine  its  myster- 
ious contents.  The  information  we 
received  was,  that  the  "  Eatooa  "  to 
whom  they  had  been  sacrificing,  and 
whose  name-  is  "  Ooro,"  was  concealed 
in  it ;  or  rather  what  is  supposed  to 
represent  him.  This  sacred  repository 
is  made  of  the  twisted  fibres  of  the 
husk  of  the  cocoa-nut,  shaped  some- 
what like  a  large  fid,  or  sugar-loaf — 
that  is,  roundish,  with  one  end  much 
thicker  than  the  other.  We  had  very 
often  got  small  ones  from  different 
people,  but  never  knew  their  use  before. 
By  this  time  the  pig  that  had  been 
killed  was  cleaned,  and  the  entrails 
taken  out.  These  happened  to  have 
a  considerable  share  of  those  convul- 
sive motions  which  often  appear  in 
different  parts  after  an  animal  is 
killed;  and  this  was  considered  by 
the  spectators  as  a  very  favourable 
omen  to  the  expedition  on  account  of 
which  the  sacrifices  had  been  offered. 
After  being  exposed  for  some  time, 
that  those  who  choose  might  examine 
their  appearances,  the  entrails  were 
carried  to  the  priests  and  laid  down 
before  them.  While  one  of  the  num- 
ber prayed,  another  inspected  the 
entrails  more  narrowly,  and  kept 
turning  them  gently  with  a  stick.1 


1  There  is  a  grotesque  analogy  be- 


MORAL"  IS] 

When  they  had  been  sufficiently 
examined,  they  were  thrown  into  the 
fire  and  left  to  consume.  The  sacri- 
ficed pig,  and  its  liver,  &c.,  were  now 
put  upon  the  "whatta"  where  the 
dog  had  been  deposited  the  day  be- 
fore ;  then  all  the  feathers,  except 
the  ostrich  plume,  were  enclosed 
with  the  "  Eatooa"  in  the  ark  ;  and 
the  solemnity  finally  closed.  Four 
double  canoes  lay  upon  the  beach 
before  the  place  of  sacrifice  all  the 
morning.  On  the  fore-part  of  each 
of  these  was  fixed  a  small  platform 
covered  with  palm-leaves  tied  in 
mysterious  knots;  and  this  also  is 
called  a  "morai."  Some  cocoa-nuts, 
plantains,  pieces  of  bread-fruit,  fish, 
and  other  things,  lay  upon  each  of 
these  naval  "morais."  We  were  told 
that  they  belonged  to  the  "  Eatooa ;" 
and  that  they  were  to  attend  the 
fleet  designed  to  go  against  Einieo. 

The  unhappy  victim  offered  to  the 
object  of  their  worship  upon  this  oc- 
casion seemed  to  be  a  middle-aged 
man,  and,  as  we  were  told,  was  a  tow- 
tow — that  is,  one  of  the  lowest  class 
of  the  people.  But,  after  all  my 
inquiries,  I  could  not  learn  that  he 
had  been  pitched  upon  on  account  of 
any  particular  crime  committed  by 
him  meriting  death.  It  is  certain, 
however,  that  they  generally  make 
choice  of  such  guilty  persons  for  their 
sacrifice  ;  or  else  of  common  low  fel- 
lows, who  stroll  about  from  place  to 
place  and  from  island  to  island  with- 
out having  any  fixed  abode  or  any 
visible  way  of  getting  an  honest  live- 
lihood ;  of  which  description  of  men 
enough  are  to  be  met  with  at  these 
islands.  Having  had  an  opportunity 
of  examining  the  appearance  of  the 
body  of  the  poor  sufferer  now  offered 
up,  I  could  observe  that  it  was  bloody 
about  the  head  and  face,  and  a  good 
deal  bruised  upon  the  right  temple, 
which  marked  the  manner  of  his  being 

tween  these  South  Sea  soothsayers 
and  the  Roman  "  haruspices,"  whose 
never  highly-honoured  craft  it  was  to 
draw  omens  of  good  or  ill  from  the 
entrails  of  victims  slain  in  the  saum 
sort  of  interrogatory  sacrifice. 


182 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.       [VoY.III.  B.  III. CD.  II. 


Wiled.  And  we  were  told  that  he  had 
been  privately  knocked  on  the  head 
with  a  stone.  Those  who  are  devoted 
to  suffer,  in  order  to  perform  this 
bloody  act  of  worship,  are  never  ap- 
prized of  their  fate  till  the  blow  is 
given  that  puts  an  end  to  their  exist- 
ence. Whenever  any  one  of  the  great 
chiefs  thinks  a  human  sacrifice  neces- 
sary on  any  particular  emergency,  he 
pitches  upon  the  victim.  Some  of 
his  trusty  servants  are  then  sent,  who 
fall  upon  him  suddenly  and  put  him 
to  death  with  a  club  or  by  stoning 
him.  The  King  is  next  acquainted 
with  it,  whose  presence  at  the  solemn 
rites  that  follow  is,  as  I  was  told, 
absolutely  necessary  ;  and  indeed  on 
the  present  occasion  we  could  observe 
tli at  Otoo  bore  a  principal  part.  The 
solemnity  itself  is  called  "  Poore 
Eree,"  or  chief's  prayer;  and  the 
victim,  who  is  offered  up,  "Taata- 
taboo,"  or  consecrated  man.  This 
is  the  only  instance  where  we  have 
heard  the  word  "taboo  "  used  at  this 
island,  where  it  seems  to  have  the 
same  mysterious  signification  as  at 
Tonga  ;  though  it  is  there  applied  to 
all  cases  where  things  are  not  to  be 
touched.  But  at  Otaheite  the  word 
"  raa  "  serves  the  same  purpose,  and 
is  full  as  extensive  in  its  meaning. 

The  "morai"  (which,  undoubtedly, 
is  a  place  of  worship,  sacrifice,  and 
burial,  at  the  same  time)  where  the 
sacrifice  was  now  offered,  is  that  where 
the  supreme  chief  of  the  whole  island 
is  always  buried,  and  is  appropriated 
to  his  family  and  some  of  the  princi- 
pal people.  It  differs  little  from  the 
common  ones  except  in  extent.  Its 
principal  part  is  a  largo,  oblong  pile 
of  stones,  lying  loosely  upon  each 
other,  about  twelve  or  fourteen  feet 
high, 'contracted  towards  the  top,  with 
a  square  area  on  each  side  loosely  paved 
with  pebble  stones,  under  which  the 
bones  of  the  chiefs  are  buried.  At  a 
little  distance  from  the  end  nearest 
the  sea  is  the  place  where  the  sacri- 
fices are  offered  ;  which,  for  a  con- 
siderable extent,  is  also  loosely  paved. 
There  is  here  a  very  large  scaffold,  or 
"whatta,"  on  which  the  offerings  of 
fruits  and  other  vegetables  are  laid. 


But  the  animals  are  deposited  on  a 
smaller  one,  already  mentioned,  and 
the  human  sacrifices  are  buried  under 
different  parts  of  the  pavement.  There 
are  several  other  relics  which  ignorant 
superstition  had  scattered  about  this 
place  ;  such  as  small  stones,  raised  in 
different  parts  of  the  pavement,  some 
with  bits  of  cloth  tied  round  them, 
others  covered  with  it ;  and  upon  the 
side  of  the  large  pile  which  fronts  the 
area  are  placed  a  great  many  pieces  of 
carved  wood,  which  are  supposed  to 
be  sometimes  the  residence  of  their 
divinities,  and  consequently  held 
sacred.  But  one  place,  more  particu- 
lar than  the  rest,  is  a  heap  of  stones, 
at  one  end  of  the  large  "whatta," 
before  which  the  sacrifice  was  offered, 
with  a  kind  of  platform  at  one  side. 
On  this  are  laid  the  skulls  of  all  the 
human  sacrifices,  which  are  taken  up 
after  they  have  been  several  months 
under  ground.  Just  above  them  are 
placed  a  great  number  of  the  pieces 
of  wood  ;  and  it  was  also  here  where 
the  "maro"  and  the  other  bundles 
supposed  to  contain  the  god  "Ooro  " 
(and  which  I  call  the  ark)  were  laid 
during  the  ceremony,  a  circumstance 
which  denotes  its  agreement  with  the 
altar  of  other  nations. 

It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  a 
practice  so  horrid  in  its  own  nature, 
and  so  destructive  of  that  inviolable 
right  of  self-preservation  which  every 
one  is  born  with,  should  be  found 
still  existing  ;  and  (snch  is  the  power 
of  superstition  to  counteract  the  first 
principles  of  humanity  !)  existing 
amongst  a  people  in  many  other  re- 
spects emerged  from  the  brutal  man- 
ners of  savage  life.  What  is  still  worse, 
it  is  probable  that  these  bloody  rites 
of  worship  are  prevalent  throughout 
all  the  wide  extended  islands  of  the 
Pacific  Ocean.  The  similarity  of  cus- 
toms and  language  which  our  late 
voyages  have  enabled  us  to  trace  be- 
tween the  most  distant  of  these  islands, 
makes  it  not  unlikely  that  some  of 
the  most  important  articles  of  their 
religious  institutions  should  agree. 
And,  indeed,  we  have  the  most  au- 
thentic information  that  human  sacri- 
fices continue  to  be  offered  at  the 


SEPT.  1777.]    REMARKS  ON  BARBAROUS  CEREMONIES. 


Friendly  Islands.  "When  I  described 
the  "  Natche  "  at  Tongataboo,  I  men- 
tioned that,  on  the  approaching  sequel 
of  that  festival,  we  had  been  told  that 
ten  men  were  to  be  sacrificed.  This  may 
give  us  an  idea  of  the  extent  of  this 
religious  massacre  in  that  island.  And 
though  we  should  suppose  that  never 
more  than  one  person  is  sacrificed  on 
any  single  occasion  at  Otaheite,  it  is 
more  than  probable  that  these  occa- 
sions happen  so  frequently  as  to  make 
a  shocking  waste  of  the  human  race  ; 
for  I  counted  no  less  than  forty-nine 
skulls  of  former  victims  lying  before 
the  "morai"  where  we  saw  one  more 
added  to  the  number.  And  as  none 
of  those  skulls  had  as  yet  suffered  any 
considerable  change  from  the  weather, 
it  may  hence  be  inferred  that  no  great 
length  of  time  had  elapsed  since  at 
least  this  considerable  number  of  un- 
happy wretches  had  been  offered  upon 
this  altar  of  blood. 

The  custom,  though  no  considera- 
tion can  make  it  cease  to  be  abomin- 
able, might  bethought  less  detrimental 
in  some  respects  if  it  served  to  impress 
any  awe  for  the  Divinity,  or  reverence 
for  religion,  upon  the  minds  of  the 
multitude.  But  this  is  so  far  from 
being  the  case,  that  though  a  great 
number  of  people  had  assembled  at 
the  "morai"  on  this  occasion,  they 
did  not  seem  to  show  any  proper 
reverence  for  what  was  doing  or  say- 
ing during  the  celebration  of  the  rites. 
And  Omai  happening  to  arrive  after 
they  had  begun,  many  of  the  spec- 
tators flocked  round  him  and  were 
engaged  the  remainder  of  the  time  in 
making  him  relate  some  of  his  adven- 
tures, which  they  listened  to  with 
great  attention,  regardless  of  the 
solemn  offices  performing  by  their 
priests.  Indeed,  the  priests  them- 
selves, except  the  one  who  chiefly 
repeated  the  prayers,  either  from  their 
being  familiarised  to  such  objects,  or 
from  want  of  confidence  in  the  efficacy 
of  their  institutions,  observed  very 
little  of  that  solemnity  which  is  neces- 
sary to  give  to  religious  performances 
their  due  weight.  Their  dress  was 
only  an  ordinary  one ;  they  conversed 
together  without  scruple ;  and  the  only 


l&S 

attempt  made  by  them  to  preserve  any 
appearance  of  decency  was  by  exerting 
their  authority  to  prevent  the  people 
from  coming  upon  the  very  spot  where 
the  ceremonies  were  performed,  and 
to  suffer  us  as  strangers  to  advance  a 
little  forward.  They  were,  however, 
very  candid  in  their  answers  to  anv 
questions  that  were  put  to  them  con- 
cerning the  institution  ;  and  particu- 
larly on  being  asked  what  the  intention 
of  it  was.  They  said  that  it  was  an 
old  custom,  and  was  agreeable  to  their 
god,  who  delighted  in,  or  in  other 
words  came  and  fed  upon,  the  sacri- 
fices ;  in  consequence  of  which  he 
complied  with  their  petitions.  UpoE 
its  being  objected  that  he  could  not 
feed  on  these,  as  he  was  neither  seen 
to  do  it,  nor  were  the  bodies  of  the 
animals  quickly  consumed  ;  and  that 
as  to  the  human  victim  they  pre- 
vented his  feeding  on  him  by  burying 
him  :  to  all  this  they  answered,  that 
he  came  in  the  night,  but  invisibly  ; 
and  fed  only  on  the  soul  or  immaterial 
part,  which  according  to  their  doctrine 
remains  about  the  place  of  sacrifice 
until  the  body  of  the  victim  b°,  entirely 
wasted  by  putrefaction. 

It  were  much  to  be  wished  that  this 
deluded  people  may  learn  to  entertain 
the  same  horror  of  murdering  their 
fellow- creatures,  in  order  to  furnish 
such  an  invisible  banquet  to  their  god, 
as  they  now  have  of  feeding  corporeally 
on  human  flesh  themselves.  And  yet 
wo  have  great  reason  to  believe  that 
there  was  a  time  when  they  were  can- 
nibals. "We  were  told  (and  indeed 
partly  saw  it)  that  it  is  a  necessary 
ceremony,  when  a  poor  wretch  is 
sacrificed,  for  the  priest  to  take  out 
the  left  eye.  This  he  presents  to  the 
king,  holding  it  to  his  mouth,  which 
he  desires  him  to  open  ;  but  instead 
of  putting  it  in,  immediately  with- 
draws it.  This  they  call  "  eating  the 
man,"  or  "food  for  the  chief;"  and 
perhaps  we  may  observe  here  some 
traces  of  former  times,  when  the  dead 
body  was  really  feasted  upon.  But, 
not  to  insist  upon  this,  it  is  certain 
that  human  sacrifices  are  not  the  only 
barbarous  custom  we  find  still  prevail- 
ing amongst  this  benevolent,  humane 


184  COOK'S  VOYAGES.       [VoY.  III.  B.  III.  Cn.  III. 

For  besides  cutting  out  the  j  have  faithfully  described  in  the  last 
Chapter,  leaving  us  no  other  business 
Attahooroo.  we   embarked   about 


people 

jaw-bones  of  their  enemies  slain  in 
battle,  which  they  carry  about  as 
trophies,  they  in  some  measure  offer 
their  dead  bodies  as  a  sacrifice  to  the 
"Eatooa."  Soon  after  a  battle  in 
which  they  have  been  victors,  they 
collect  all  the  dead  that  have  fallen 
into  their  hands,  and  bring  them  to 
the  "morai,"  where  with  a  great  deal 
of  ceremony  they  dig  a  hole  and  bury 
them  all  in  it,  as  so  many  offerings  to 
the  gods ;  but  their  skulls  are  never 
after  taken  up. 

Their  own  great  chiefs  that  fall  in 
battle  are  treated  in  a  different  man- 
ner. We  were  informed  that  their 


in 

noon  in  order  to  return  to  Matavai, 
and  in  our  way  visited  Towha,  who 
had  remained  on  the  little  island 
where  we  met  him  the  day  before. 
Some  conversation  passed  between 
Otoo  and  him  on  the  present  posture 
of  public  affairs,  and  then  the  latter 
solicited  me  once  more  to  join  them 
in  their  war  against  Eimeo.  By  my 
positive  refusal  I  entirely  lost  the 
good  graces  of  this  chief.  .  .  . 

On  the  14th,  a  party  of  us  dined 
ashore  with  Omai,  who  gave  excellent 
fare,  consisting  offish,  fowls,  pork,  and 


late  King  Tootaha,  Tubourai-tamaide,  I  puddings.      After  dinner,  I  attended 
and  another  chief  who  fell  with  them  I  Otoo,  who  had  been  one  of  the  party. 


in  the  battle,  fought  with  those  of 
Tiaraboo,  and  were  brought  to  this 
t(  morai,"  at  Attahooroo.  There  their 
bowels  were  cut  out  by  the  priests 
before  the  great  altar;  and  the  bodies 
afterward  buried  in  three  different 
places,  which  were  pointed  out  to  us, 
in  the  great  pile  of  stones  that  com- 
pose the  most  conspicuous  part  of  this 
"morai."  And  their  common  men 
who  also  fell  in  this  battle  were  all 
buried  in  one  hole  at  the  foot  of  the 
pile.  This  Omai,  who  was  present, 
told  me  was  done  the  day  after  the 
battle,  with  much  pomp  and  cere- 
mony, and  in  the  midst  of  a  great 
concourse  of  people,  as  a  thanksgiving 
offering  to  the  "  Eatooa,"  for  the  vic- 
tory they  had  obtained  ;  while  the 
vanquished  had  taken  refuge  in  the 
mountains.  There  they  remained  a 
week  or  ten  days,  till  the  fury  of  the 
victors  was  over,  and  a  treaty  set  on 
foot  by  which  it  was  agreed  that  Otoo 
should  be  declared  King  of  the  whole 
island ;  and  the  solemnity  of  invest- 
ing him  Avith  the  "maro"  was  per- 
formed at  the  same  "morai,"  with 
great  pomp,  in  the  presence  of  all  the 
principal  men  of  the  country. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  close  of  the  very  singular  scene 


back  to  his  house,  where  I  found  all 
his  servants  very  busy  getting  a 
quantity  of  provisions  ready  for  me. 
Amongst  other  articles  there  was  a 
large  hog,  which  they  killed  in  my 
presence.  The  entrails  were  divided 
into  eleven  portions,  in  such  a  man- 
ner that  each  of  them  contained  a  bit 
of  everything.  These  portions  were 
distributed  to  the  servants,  and  some 
dressed  theirs  in  the  same  ot en  with 
the  hog,  while  others  carried  off  un- 
dressed what  had  come  to  their  share. 
There  .was  also  a  large  pudding,  the 
whole  process  in  making  which  I  saw. 
It  was  composed  of  bread-fruit,  ripe 
plantains,  taro,  and  palm,  or  Pan- 
damts,  nuts,  each  rasped,  scraped,  or 
beat  up  fine,  and  baked  by  itself. 
A  quantity  of  juice  expressed  from 
cocoa-nut  kernels  was  put  into  a  large 
tray  or  wooden  vessel.  The  other 
articles,  hot  from  the  oven,  were  de- 
posited in  this  vessel,  and  a  few  hot 
stones  were  also  put  in,  to  make  the 
contents  simmer.  Three  or  four  men 
made  use  of  sticks  to  stir  the  several 
ingredients,  till  they  were  incorpo- 
rated one  with  another,  and  the  juice 
of  the  cocoa-nut  was  turned  to  oil  ;  so 
that  the  whole  mass  at  last  became  of 
the  consistency  of  a  hasty-pudding. 
Some  of  these  puddings  are  excellent, 
and  few  that  we  make  in  England 
equal  them.  I  seldom  or  never  dined 
without  one  when  I  could  get  it,  which 


exhibited  at  the   "morai,"  which  I  ;  \vus  not  always  the  case.     Oloo's  hog 


SEPT.  1777.]      A  REMARKABLE  PRESENT  OF  CLOTH. 


185 


being  baked,  and  the  pudding  which 
I  have  described  being  made,  they, 
togethei  with  two  living  hogs  and  a 
quantity  of  bread-fruit  and  cocoa- 
nuts,  were  put  into  a  canoe  and  sent 
on  board  my  ship,  followed  by  my- 
self and  all  the  royal  family. 

The  following  evening,  a  young 
ram  of  the  Cape  breed,  that  had  been 
lambed,  and  witli  great  care  brought 
up  on  board  the  ship,  was  killed  by  a 
dog.  Incidents  are  of  more  or  less 
consequence,  as  connected  with  situa- 
tion. In  our  present  situation,  de- 
sirous as  I  was  to  propagate  this  useful 
race  amongst  these  islands,  the  loss 
of  the  ram  was  a  serious  misfortune, 
as  it  was  the  only  one  I  had  of  that 
breed,  and  I  had  only  one  of  the 
English  breed  left.  And  in  the  even- 
ing^ of  the  7th  we  played  off  some 
fireworks  before  a  great  concourse  of 


next  day  a  party  of  us  dined 
with  our  former  shipmate,  Oedidee,  on 
fish  and  pork.  The  hog  weighed  about 
thirty  pounds  ;  and  it  may  be  worth 
mentioning  that  it  was  alive,  dressed, 
and  brought  upon  the  table  within 
the  hour.  We  had  but  just  dined, 
when  Otoo  came  and  asked  me  if  my 
belly  was  full  ?  On  my  answering  in 
the  affirmative,  he  said,  "  Then  come 
along  with  me."  I  accordingly  went 
with  him  to  his  father's,  where  I 
found  some  people  employed  in  dress- 
ing two  girls  with  a  prodigious 
quantity  of  fine  cloth,  after  a  very 
singular  fashion.  The  one  end  oi 
each  piece  of  cloth,  of  which  there 
was  a  good  many,  was  held  up  over 
the  .heads  of  the  girls,  while  the  re- 
mainder was  wrapped  round  their 
bodies,  under  the  arra-pits.  Then 
the  upper  ends  were  let  fall,  and 
hung  down  in  folds  to  the  ground 
over  the  other,  so  as  to  bear  some  re- 
semblance to  a  circular  hoop-petticoat. 
Al'fenvards,  round  the  outside  of  all, 
were  wrapped  several  pieces  of  differ- 
ently coloured  cloth,  which  consider- 
ably increased  the  size  ;  so  that  it  was 
not  less  than  five  or  six  yards  in  cir- 
cuit, and  the  weight  of  this  singular 
attire  was  as  much  as  the  poor  girls 
couid  support.  To  each  were  hung 


two  "taames,"  or  breast-plates,  by 
way  of  enriching  the  whole,  and 
giving  it  a  picturesque  appearance. 
Thus  equipped,  they  \vere  conducted 
on  board  the  ship,  together  with 
several  hogs  and  a  quantity  of  fruit, 
which,  with  the  cloth,  was  a  present 
to  me  from  Otoo's  father.  Persons  of 
either  sex  dressed  in  this  manner  are 
called  "atee;"  but  I  believe  it  is 
never  practised  except  when  large 
presents  of  cloth  are  to  be  made.  At 
least  I  never  saw  it  practised  upon 
any  other  occasion,  nor,  indeed,  had 
I  ever  such  a  present  before  ;  but  both 
Captain  Clerke  and  I  had  cloth  given 
to  us  afterwards  thus  wrapped  round 
the  bearers.  The  next  day  I  had  a 
present  of  five  hogs  and  some  fruit 
from  Otoo,  and  one  hug  and  some 
fruit  from  each  of  his  sisters,  x^or 
were  other  provisions  wanting.  For 
two  or  three  days  great  quantities  of 
mackerel  had  been  caught  by  the 
natives,  within  the  reef,  in  seines; 
some  of  which  they  brought  to  the 
ships  and  tents,  and  sold. 

Otoo  was  not  more  attentive  to  sup- 
ply our  wants  by  a  succession  of  pre- 
sents, than  he  was  to  contribute  to  our 
amusement  by  a  succession  of  diver- 
sions. A  party  of  us  having  gone 
down  to  Oparre  on  the  10th,  he  treated 
us  with  what  may  be  called  a  play. 
His  three  sisters  were  the  actresses ; 
and  the  dresses  they  appeared  in  were 
new  and  elegant,  that  is,  more  so 
than  we  had  usually  met  with  at  any 
of  these  islands.  But  the  principal 
object  I  had  in  view  this  day  in  going 
to  Oparre  was  to  take  a  view  of  an 
embalmed  corpse,  which  some  of  our 
gentlemen  had  happened  to  meet  with 
at  that  place,  near  the  residence  of 
Otoo.  On  inquiry  I  found  it  to  be 
the  remains  of  Tee,  a  chief  well  known 
to  me  when  I  was  at  this  island  dur- 
ing my  last  voyage.  It  was  lying  in 
a  "toopapaoo,"  more  elegantly  con- 
structed than  their  common  ones, 
and  in  all  respects  similar  to  that 
lately  seen  by  us  at  Oheitepeha,  in 
which  the  remains  of  Waheiadooa  are 
deposited,  embalmed  in  the  same  man- 
ner. \\rhen  we  arrived  at  the  place, 
the  body  was  under  cover  and  wrap- 


166 

ped  up  in  cloth  within  the  "toopa- 
paoo  ;"  but  at  my  desire  the  man  who 
had  the  cave  of  it  brought  it  out  and 
laid  it  upon  a  kind  of  bier,  in  such  a 
manner  that  we  had  as  full  a  view  of 
it  as  we  could  wish  ;  but  we  were  not 
allowed  to  go  within  the  pales  that 
enclosed  the  "toopapaoo."  After  he 
had  thus  exhibited  the  corpse,  he 
hung  the  place  with  mats  and  cloth, 
so  disposed  as  to  produce  a  very 
pretty  effect.  We  found  the  body 
not  only  entire  in  every  part,  but 
what  surprised  us  much  more,  was 
that  putrefaction  seemed  scarcely  to 
be  begun,  as  there  was  not  the  least 
disagreeable  smell  proceeding  from 
it,  though  the  climate  is  one  of  the 
hottest,  and  Tee  had  been  dead  above 
four  months.  The  only  remarkable 
alteration  that  had  happened  was  a 
sin-inking  of  the  muscular  parts  of  the 
eyes  ;  but  the  hair  and  nails  were  in 
their  original  state,  and  still  adhered 
firmly;  and  the  several  joints  were 
quite  pliable,  or  in  that  kind  of  re- 
laxed state  which  happens  to  persons 
who  faint  suddenly.  Such  were  Mr 
Anderson's  remarks  to  me,  who  also 
told  me,  that  on  his  inquiring  into 
the  method  of  effecting  this  preserva- 
tion of  their  dead  bodies,  he  had  been 
informed  that  soon  after  their  death 
they  are  disembowelled  by  drawing 
the  intestines  and  other  viscera  out 
at  the  anus,  and  the  whole  cavity  is 
then  filled  or  stuffed  with  cloth  intro- 
duced through  the  same  part ;  that 
when  any  moisture  appeared  on  the 
skin  it  was  carefully  dried  up,  and 
the  bodies  afterward  rubbed  all  over 
with  a  large  quantity  of  perfumed 
cocoa-nut  oil,  which  being  frequently 
repeated,  preserved  them  a  great 
many  months,  but  at  last  they  gra- 
dually moulder  away.  This  was  the 
information  Mr  Anderson  received  ; 
for  my  own  part  I  could  not  learn 
ar  y  more  about  their  mode  of  opera- 
tion than  what  Omai  told  me,  who 
said  that  they  made  use  of  the  juice 
of  a  plant  which  grows  ainongst  the 
mountains  ;  of  cocoa-nut  oil ;  and  of 
frequent  washing  with  sea-water.  I 
was  also  told  that  the  bodies  of  all 
their  great  men  who  died  a  natural 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.      [VoY.  III.  B.  III.  CH.  III. 


death  are  preserved  in  this  manner; 
and  that  they  expose  them  to  public 
view  for  a  considerable  time  after. 
At  first  they  are  laid  out  every  day 
when  it  does  not  rain,  afterwards  the 
intervals  become  greater  and  greater, 
and  at  last  they  are  seldom  to  be 
seen. 

In  the  evening  we  returned  from 
Oparee,  where  we  left  Otoo  and  all 
the  royal  family ;  and  I  saw  none  of 
them  till  the  12th,  when  all  but  the 
chief  himself  paid  me  a  visit.  He, 
as  they  told  me,  was  gone  to  Atta- 
hooroo  to  assist  this  day  at  another 
human  sacrifice  which  the  chief  of 
Tiaraboo  had  sent  thither  to  be  offered 
up  at  the  "  morai."  This  second 
instance  within  the  course  of  a  few 
days  was  too  melancholy  a  proof  how 
numerous  the  victims  of  this  bloody 
superstition  are  amongst  this  humane 
people.  I  would  have  been  present 
at  this  sacrifice  too  had  I  known  of 
it  in  time,  for  now  it  was  too  late. 
From  the  very  same  cause  I  missed 
being  present  at  a  public  transaction 
which  had  passed  at  Oparre  the  pre- 
ceding day,  when  Otoo,  with  all  the 
solemnities  observed  on  such  occa- 
sions, restored  to  the  friends  and  fol- 
lowers of  the  late  King  Tootaha  the 
lands  and  possessions  which  had  been 
withheld  from  them  ever  since  his 
death.  Probably  the  new  sacrifice 
was  the  concluding  ceremony  of  what 
may  be  called  the  reversal  of  attainder. 

The  following  evening  Otoo  returned 
from  exercising  this  most  disagreeable 
of  all  his  duties  as  Sovereign;  and 
the  next  day,  being  now  honoured 
with  his  company,  Captain  Clerke  and 
I,  mounted  on  horseback,  took  a  ride 
round  the  plain  of  Matavai,  to  the 
very  great  surprise  of  a  great  train  of 
people  who  attended  on  the  occasion, 
gazing  upon  us  with  as  much  astonish- 
ment as  if  we  had  been  Centaurs. 
Omai,  indeed,  had  once  or  twice  be- 
fore this  attempted  to  get  on  horse- 
back, but  he  had  as  often  been  thrown 
off  before  he  could  contrive  to  scat 
himself;  so  that  this  was  the  first 
time  they  had  seen  anybody  ride  a 
horse.  What  Captain  Clerke  and  I 
began  was  after  this  repeated  every 


SEPT.  1777.]  ANIMALS  GIV 

day  while  we  stayed,  by  one  or  another  j 
of  our  people,  arid  yet  the  curiosity 
of  the  nativescontinuedstill  unabated. 
They  were  exceedingly  delighted  with 
these  animals,  after  they  had  seen  the 
use  that  was  made  of  them ;  and  as 
far  as  I  could  judge  they  conveyed  to 
them  a  better  idea  of  the  greatness  of 
other  nations  than  all  the  other  novel- 
ties put  together  that  their  European 
visitors  had  carried  amongst  them. 
Both  the.  horse  and  mare  were  in  good 
case,  and  looked  extremely  well. 

The  next  day,  Etary  or  Olla,  the 
god  of  Bolabola,  who  had  for  several 
days  past  been  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Matavai,  removed  to  Oparre,  at- 
tended by  several  sailing  canoes.  We 
were  told  that  Otoo  did  not  approve 
of  his  being  so  near  our  station, 
where  his  people  could  more  easily 
invade  our  property.  I  must  do  Otoo 
the  justice  to  say  that  he  took  every 
method  prudence  could  suggest  to 
prevent  thefts  and  robberies ;  and  it 
was  more  owing  to  his  regulations 
than  to  our  circumspection  that  so 
few  were  committed.  He  had  taken 
care  to  erect  a  little  house  or  two  on 
the  other  side  of  the  river  behind  our 
post,  and  two  others  close  to  our  tents 
on  the  bank  between  the  river  and 
the  sea.  In  all  these  places  some  of 
his  own  people  constantly  kept  watch, 
and  his  father  generally  resided  on 
Matavai  Point,  so  that  we  were  in  a 
manner  surrounded  by  them.  Thus 
stationed,  they  not  only  guarded  us 
in  the  night  from  thieves,  but  could 
observe  everything  that  passed  in  the 
day,  and  were  ready  to  collect  contri- 
butions from  such  girls  as  had  private 
connections  with  our  people,  which 
was  generally  done  every  morning. 
So  that  the  measuiss  adopted  by  him 
to  secure  our  safety  at  the  same  time 
served  the  more  essential  purpose  of 
enlarging  his  own  profits.  Otoo  in- 
forming me  that  his  presence  was 
necessary  at  Oparre,  where  he  was  to 
give  audience  to  the  great  personage 
from  Bolabola,  and  asking  me  to  ac- 
company him,  I  readily  consented  in 
hopes  of  meeting  with  something 
worth  our  notice.  Accordingly  I 
went  with  him  in  the  morning  of  the 


EN  TO  OTOO.  187 

16th,  attended  by  Mr  Anderson. 
Nothing,  however,  occurred  on  this 
occasion  that  was  either  interesting 
or  curious.  We  saw  Etary  and  his 
followers  present  some  coarse  cloth 
and  hogs  to  Otoo,  and  each  article 
was  delivered  with  some  ceremony 
and  a  set  speech.  After  this,  they 
nd  some  other  chiefs  held  a  consul- 
tation about  the  expedition  to  Eimeo. 
Etary  at  first  seemed  to  disapprove  of 
it,  but  at  last  his  objections  were 
overruled.  Indeed  it  appeared  next 
day  that  it  was  too  late  to  deliberate 
about  this  measure ;  and  that  Towha, 
Potatou,  and  another  chief  had  already 
gone  upon  the  expedition,  with  the 
fleet  of  Attahooroo.  For  a  messenger 
arrived  in  the  evening  with  intelli- 
gence that  they  had  reached  Eimeo, 
and  that  there  had  been  some  skir- 
mishes without  much  loss  or  advan- 
tage on  either  side. 

In  the  morning  of  the  18th  Mr 
Anderson,  myself,  and  Omai  went 
again  with  Otoo  to  Oparre,  and  took 
with  us  the  sheep  which  I  intended 
to  leave  upon  the  island;  consisting 
of  an  English  ram  and  ewe  and  three 
Cape  ewes,  all  which  I  gave  to  Otoo. 
As  all  the  three  cows  had  taken  the 
bull,  I  thought  I  might  venture  to 
divide  them  and  carry  some  to  Ulie- 
tca.  With  this  view  I  had  them 
brought  before  us,  and  proposed  to 
Etary  that  if  he  would  leave  his  bull 
with  Otoo,  he  should  have  mine  and 
one  of  the  three  cows,  adding  that  I 
would  carry  them  for  him  to  Ulietea ; 
for  I  was  afraid  to  remove  the  Spanish 
bull,  lest  some  accident  should  hap- 
pen to  him,  as  he  was  a  bulky,  spirited 
beast.  To  this  proposal  of  mine  Etary 
at  first  made  some  objections,  but  at 
last  agreed  to  it,  partly  through  the 
persuasion  of  Omai.  However,  just 
as  the  cattle  were  putting  into  the 
boat,  one  of  Etary's  followers  valiantly 
opposed  any  exchange  whatever  being 
made.  Finding  this,  and  suspecting 
that  Etary  had  only  consented  to  the 
proposed  arrangement  for  the  present 
moment  to  please  me,  and  that  after 
I  was  gone  he  might  take  away  hia 
bull,  and  then  Otoo  would  not  have 
one,  I  thought  it  best  to  drop  the 


188  COOK'S  VOYAGES. 

idea  of  an  exchange,  as  it  could  not 

be  made  with  the  mutual  consent  of 

both  parties,  and  finally  determined 

to  leave  them  all  with  Otoo,  strictly 

enjoining  him  never  to  suffer  them  to 

be  removed   from  Oparre,   not   even 

the   Spanish   bull,    nor    any   of   the 

sheep,  till  he  should  get  a  stock  of 

young   ones,   which  he   might    then 

dispose  of  to  his  friends,  and  send  to 

the  neighbouring  islands. 

This  being  settled,  we  left  Etary 
and  his  party  to  ruminate  upon  their 
folly,  and  attended  Otoo  to  another 
place  hard  by,  where  we  found  the 
servants  of  a  chief  whose  name  I  for- 
got to  ask,  waiting  with  a  hog,  a  pig, 
and  a  dog,  as  a  present  from  their 
master  to  the  Sovereign.  These  were 
delivered  with  the  usual  ceremonies, 
and  with  an  harangue  in  form  in 
which  the  speaker  in  his  master's 
name  inquired  after  the  health  of 
Otoo  and  of  all  the  principal  people 
about  him.  This  compliment  was 
echoed  back  in  the  name  of  Otoo  by 
one  of  his  ministers,  and  then  the 
dispute  with  Eimeo  was  discussed, 
with  many  arguments  for  and  against 


it.  The  deputies  of  this  chief  were 
for  prosecuting  the  war  with  vigour, 
and  advised  Otoo  to  offer  a  human 
sacrifice.  On  the  other  hand,  a  chief 
who  was  in  constant  attendance  on 
Otoo's  person  opposed  it,  seemingly 
with  great  strength  of  argument. 
This  confirmed  me  in  the  opinion 
that  Otoo  himself  never  entered 
heartily  into  the  spirit  of  this  war. 
He  now  received  repeated  messages 
from  Towha  strongly  soliciting  him 
to  hasten  to  his  assistance.  We  wore 
told  that  his  fleet  was  in  a  manner 
surrounded  by  that  of  Maheine,  but 
that  neither  the  one  nor  the  other 
durst  hazard  an  engagement. 

After  dining  with  Otoo,  we  returned 
to  Matavai,  leaving  him  at  Oparre. 
This  day,  and  also  the  19th,  we  were 
very  sparingly  supplied  with  fruit. 
Otoo  hearing  of  this,  he  and  his 
brother,  who  had  attached  himself  to 
Captain  Clerke,  came  from  Oparre 
between  9  and  10  o'clock  in  the  even- 
ing with  a  large  supply  for  both  ships. 
This  marked  his  humane  attention 


[VoY.III.B.IIT.CH.m. 

more  strongly  than  anything  he  had 
hitherto  done  for  us.  The  next  day 
all  the  royal  family  came  with  pre- 
sents, so  that  our  wants  were  not 
only  relieved,  but  we  had  more  pro- 
visions than  we  could  consume. 

Having  got  all  our  water  on  bc-rd, 
the  ships  being  calked,  the  rigging 
overhauled,  and  everything  put  in 
order,  I  began  to  think  of  leaving 
the  island,  that  I  might  have  suffi- 
cient time  to  spare  for  visiting  others 
in  this  neighbourhood.  "With  this 
view  we  removed  from  the  shore  our 
observatories  and  instruments,  and 
bent  the  sails.  Early  the  next  morn- 
ing Otoo  came  on  board  to  acquaint 
me  that  all  the  war  canoes  of  Matavai 
and  of  the  three  other  districts  ad- 
joining were  going  to  Oparre  to  join 
those  belonging  to  that  part  of  the 
island,  and  that  there  would  be  a 
general  review  there.  Soon  after  the 
squadron  of  Matavai  was  all  in  motion, 
and,  after  parading  a  while  about  the 
bay,  assembled  ashore  near  the  middle 
of  it.  I  now  went  in  my  boat  to  take 
a  view  of  them.  Of  those  with  stages 
on  which  they  fight,  or  what  they 


call  their  war-canoes,  there  were  about 
sixty,  with  near  as  many  more  of  a 
smaller  size.  I  was  ready  to  have 
attended  them  to  Oparre,  but  soon 
after  a  resolution  was  taken  by  the 
chiefs  that  they  should  not  move  till 
the  next  day.  I  looked  upon  this  to 
be  a  fortunate  delay,  as  it  afforded 
me  a  good  opportunity  to  get  some 
insight  into  their  manner  of  fighting. 
With  this  view  I  expressed  my  wish 
to  Otoo  that  he  would  order  some  of 
them  to  go  through  the  necessary 
manoeuvres.  Two  were  accordingly 
ordered  out  into  the  bay,  in  one  of 
which  Otoo,  Mr  King,  and  myself 
embarked,  and  Omai  went  on  board 
the  other.  When  we  had  got  suffi- 
cient sea-room,  we  faced  and  advanced 
upon  each  other,  and  retreated  by 
turns,  as  quick  as  our  rowers  could 
paddle.  During  this,  the  warriors  on 
the  stages  flourished  their  weapons, 
and  played  a  hundred  antic  tricks, 
which  could  answer  no  other  end,  in 
my  judgment,  than  to  work  up  their 
passions  and  prepare  them  for  fighting. 


SEPT.  1777.]  MOCK  FIGHT  OF 

Otco  stood  by  the  side  of  our  stage,  ; 
and  gave  the  necessary  orders  when 
to  advance  and  when  to  retreat.  In 
this  great  judgment  and  a  quick  eye 
combined  together  seemed  requisite 
to  seize  every  advantage  that  might 
offer,  and  to  avoid  giving  any  advan- 
tage to  the  adversary.  At  last,  after 
advancing  and  retreating  from  each 
other  at  least  a  dozen  times,  the  two 
canoes  closed,  head  to  head  or  stage 
to  stage;  and  after  a  short  conflict 
the  troops  on  our  stage  were  supposed 
to  be  all  killed,  and  we  were  boarded 
by  Omai  and  his  associates.  At  that 
very  instant  Otoo  and  all  our  paddlers 
leaped  overboard,  as  if  reduced  to  the 
necessity  of  endeavouring  to  save 
their  lives  by  swimming. 

If  Omai 's  information  is  to  be  de- 
pended upon,  their  naval  engagements 
are  not  always  conducted  in  this  man- 
ner. He  told  me  that  they  sometimes 
begin  with  lashing  the  two  vessels 
together,  head  to  head,  and  then  fight 
till  all  the  warriors  are  killed  on  one 
side  or  the  other.  But  this  close  com- 
bat, I  apprehend,  is  never  practised 
but  when  they  are  determined  to  con- 
quer or  die.  Indeed,  one  or  the  other 
must  happen,  for  all  agree  that  they 
never  give  quarter,  unless  it  be  to 
reserve  their  prisoners  for  a  more  cruel 
deatli  the  next  day.  The  power  and 
strength  of  these  islands  lie  entirely 
in  their  navies.  I  never  heard  of  a 
general  engagement  on  land,  and  all 
their  decisive  battles  are  fought  on  the 
water.  If  the  time  and  place  of  con- 
flict are  fixed  upon  by  both  parties, 
the  preceding  day  and  night  are  spent 
in  diversions  and  feasting.  Toward 
morning  they  launch  the  canoes,  put 
everything  in  order,  and  with  the 
day  begins  the  battle,  the  fate  of 
which  generally  decides  the  dispute. 
The  vanquished  save  themselves  by  a 
precipitate  flight,  and  such  as  reach 
the  shore  fly  with  their  friends  to 
the  mountains,  for  the  victors,  while 
their  fury  lasts,  spare  neither  the 
aged,  women,  nor  children.  The  next 
day  they  assemble  at  the  "  morai,"  to 
return  thanks  to  the  "  Eatooa  "  for 
the  victory,  and  to  offer  np  the  slain 
as  sacrifices,  and  the  prisoners  also  it' 


WAR  CANOES.  189 

they  have  any.  After  this  a  treaty  is 
set  on  foot,  and  the  conquerors  for 
the  most  part  obtain  their  own  terms, 
by  which  particular  districts  of  land, 
and  sometimes  whole  islands,  change 
their  owners.  Omai  told  us  that  he 
was  once  taken  a  prisoner  by  the  men 
of  Bolabola,  and  carried  to  that  island, 
where  he  and  some  others  would  have 
been  put  to  deatli  the  next  day  if 
they  had  not  found  means  to  escape 
in  the  night. 

As  soon  as  this  mock-fight  was  over, 
Omai  put  on  his  suit  of  armour, 
mounted  a  stage  in  one  of  the  canoes, 
and  was  paddled  all  along  the  shore 
of  the  bay,  so  that  every  one  had  a 
full  view  of  him.  His  coat  of  mail 
did  not  draw  the  attention  of  his 
countrymen  so  much  as  might  have 
been  expected.  Some  of  them,  indeed, 
had  seen  a  part  of  it  before ;  and  there 
were  others,  again,  who  had  taken 
such  a  dislike  to  Omai,  from  his  im- 
prudent conduct  at  this  place,  that 
they  would  hardly  look  at  anything, 
however  singular,  that  was  exhibited 
by  him. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

EARLY  in  the  morning  of  the  22d, 
Otoo  and  his  father  came  on  board  to 
know  when  I  proposed  sailing.  For 
having  been  informed  that  there  was 
a  good  harbour  at  Eimeo,  I  had  told 
them  that  I  should  visit  that  island 
on  my  way  to  Huaheine;  and  they 
were  desirous  of  taking  a  passage  with, 
me,  and  of  their  fleet  sailing  at  the 
time  to  reinforce  Towha.  As  I  was 
ready  to  take  my  departure,  I  left  it 
to  them  to  name  the  day;  and  the 
Wednesday  following  was  fixed  upon, 
when  I  was  to  take  on  board  Otoo,  his 
father,  mother,  and  in  short  the  whole 
family.  These  points  being  settled, 
I  proposed  setting  out  immediately 
for  Oparre,  where  all  the  fleet  fitte.d 
out  for  the  expedition  was  to  assemble 
this  day  and  to  be  reviewed. 

1  had  but  just  time  to  get  into  my 
boat  when  news  was  brought  that 
Towha  had  concluded  a  treaty  with 


190 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.       [VoY.  III.B.  III.CH.  IV. 


Maheine,  and  had  returned  with  his 
fleet  to  Attahooroo.  This  unexpected 
event  made  all  further  proceedings  in 
the  military  way  quite  unnecessary; 
and  the  war-canoes,  instead  of  rendez- 
vousing at  Oparre,  were  ordered  home 
to  their  respective  districts.  This 
alteration,  however,  did  not  hinder 
me  from  following  Otoo  to  Oparre, 
accompanied  by  Mr  King  and  Omai. 
Soon  after  our  arrival,  and  whiledinner 
was  preparing,  a  messenger  arrived 
from  Eimeo  and  related  the  conditions 
of  the  peace,  or  rather  of  the  truce,  it 
being  only  for  a  limited  time.  The 
terms  were  disadvantageous  to  Ota- 
JK'ite,  and  much  blame  was  thrown 
upon  Otoo,  whose  delay  in  sending 
reinforcements  had  obliged  Towlia  to 
submit  to  a  disgraceful  accommoda- 
tion. It  was  even  currently  reported 
that  Towha,  resenting  his  not  being 
supported,  had  declared  that  as  soon 
as  1  could  leave  the  island  he  W(,uld 
join  his  forces  to  those  of  Tiaraboo, 
and  attack  Otoo  at  Matavai  or  Oparre. 
This  called  upon  me  to  declare  in  the 
most  public  manner  that  I  was  deter- 
mined to  espouse  the  interest  of  my 
friend  against  any  such  combination, 
and  that  whoever  presumed  to  attack 
him  should  feel  the  weight  of  my  heavy 
displeasure  when  I  returned  again  to 
their  island.  My  declaration  probably 
had  the  desired  effect,  and  if  Towha 
had  any  such  hostile  intention  at  first, 
we  soon  heard  no  more  of  the  report. 
"\Vliappai,  Otoo's  father,  highly  dis- 
approved of  the  peace,  and  blamed 
Towha  very  much  for  concluding  it. 
This  sensible  old  man  wisely  judged 
that  my  going  down  with  them  to 
Eimeo  must  have  been  of  singular 
service  to  their  cause,  though  I  should 
take  no  other  part  whatever  in  the 
quarrel.  And  it  was  upon  this  that 
he  built  his  arguments,  and  main- 
tained that  Otoo  had  acted  properly 
by  waiting  for  me,  though  this  had 
prevented"  his  giving  assistance  to 
Towha  so  soon  as  he  expected. 

Our  debates  at  Oparre  on  this  sub- 
ject were  hardly  ended  before  a  mes-  j 
senger  arrived  from  Towha,  desiriiig 
Otoo's  attendance  the  next  day  at  the 
"  morai  "    in    Attahooroo,    to    give 


thanks  to  the  gods  for  the  peace  he 
had  concluded ;  at  least  such  was 
Omai's  account  to  me  of  the  object  of 
this  solemnity.  I  was  asked  to  go, 
but  being  much  out  of  order  was  ob- 
liged to  decline.  Desirous,  however, 
of  knowing  what  ceremonies  might  be 
observed  on  so  memorable  an  occasion, 
I  sent  Mr  King  and  Omai,  and  returned 
on  board  my  ship,  attended  by  Otoo's 
mother,  his  three  sisters,  and  eight 
more  women.  At  first  I  thought 
that  this  numerous  train  of  females 
came  into  my  boat  with  no  other  view 
than  to  get  a  passage  to  Matavai.  But 
when  we  arrived  at  the  ship  they  told 
me  they  intended  passing  the  night 
on  board  for  the  express  purpose  of 
undertaking  the  cure  of  the  disorder 
I  complained  of,  which  was  a  pain  of 
the  rheumatic  kind  extending  from 
the  hip  to  the  foot.  I  accepted  the 
friendly  offer,  had  a  bed  spread  for 
them  upon  the  cabin  floor,  and  sub- 
mitted myself  to  their  directions.  I  was 
desired  to  lay  myself  down  amongst 
them.  Then  as  many  of  them  as 
could  get  round  me  began  to  squeeze 
me  with  both  hands  irom  head  to 
foot,  but  more  particularly  on  the 
parts  where  the  pain  was  lodged,  till 
they  made  my  bones  crack  and  my 
flesh  became  a  perfect  mummy.  In 
short,  after  undergoing  this  discipline 
about  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  I  was 
glad  to  get  away  from  them.  How- 
ever,  the  operation  gave  me  immediate 
relief,  which  encouraged  me  to  submit 
to  another  rubbing-down  before  I 
went  to  bed  ;  and  it  was  so  effectual 
that  I  found  myself  pretty  easy  all 
the  night  after.  My  female  physicians 
repeated  their  prescription  the  next 
morning  before  they  went  ashore,  and 
again  in  the  evening  when  they  re- 
turned on  board,  after  which  I  found 
the  pains  entirely  removed  ;  and  the 
cure  being  perfected,  they  took  their 
leave  of  me  the  following  morning. 
This  they  call  "  romee,"  an  operation 
which  in  my  opinion  far  exceeds  the 
flesh-brush,  or  anything  of  the  kind 
that  we  make  use  of  externally.  It 
is  universally  practised  amongst  these 
islanders,  being  sometimes  performed 
by  the  men,  but  more  generally  by 


SEPT.  1777.]     PKESEJST  TO  OMAI 

the  women.  If  at  any  time  one  ap- 
pears languid  and  tired,  and  sits 
down  by  any  one  of  them,  they  im- 
mediately begin  to  practise  the 
"  romee  "  upon  his  legs  ;  and  I  have 
always  found  it  to  have  an  exceeding 
good  effect.  .  .  . 

[On  the  27th]  I  accompanied  Otoo 
to  Oparre ;  and  before  I  left  it  I  looked 
at  the  cattle  and  poultry  which  I  had 
consigned  to  my  friend's  care  at  that 
place.  Everything  was  in  a  promising 
way,  and  properly  attended  to.  Two 
of  the  geese  and  two  of  the  ducks 
were  sitting  ;  but  the  pea  and  turkey 
hens  had  not  begun  to  lay.  I  got 
from  Otoo  four  goats,  two  of  which  I 
intended  to  leave  at  Ulietea,  where 
none  had  as  yet  been  introduced ;  and 
the  other  two  I  proposed  to  reserve 
for  the  use  of  any  other  islands  I 
might  meet  with  in  my  passage  to 
the  north. 

Our  friend  Omai  got  one  good  thing 
at  this  island  for  the  many  good  things 
he  gave  away.  This  was  a  very  fine 
double  sailing  canoe,  completely 
equipped,  and  fit  for  the  sea.  Some 
time  before  I  had  made  up  for  him 
a  suit  of  English  colours ;  but  he 
thought  these  too  valuable  to  be  used 
at  this  time,  and  patched  up  a  parcel 
of  colours,  such  as  flags  and  pendants, 
to  the  number  of  ten  or  a  dozen, 
which  he  spread  on  different  parts  of 
this  vessel  all  at  the  same  time,  and 
drew  together  as  many  people  to  look 
at  her  as  a  man-of-war  would,  dressed, 
in  a  European  port.  These  streamers 
of  Omai  were  a  mixture  of  English, 
French,  Spanish,  and  Dutch,  which 
were  all  the  European  colours  that  he 
had  seen.  "When  I  was  last  at  this 
island,  I  gave  to  Otoo  an  English  jack 
and  pendant,  and  to  Towha  a  pen- 
dant ;  which  I  now  found  they  had 
preserved  with  the  greatest  care. 
Omai  had  also  provided  himself  with 
a  good  stocl:  of  cloth  and  cocoa-nut 
oil,  which  are  not  only  in  greater 
plenty,  but  much  better,  at  Otaheito 
than  at  any  of  the  Society  Islands, 
insomuch  that  they  are  articles  of 
trade.  Omai  would  not  have  behaved 
so  inconsistently,  and  so  much  unlike 
himself  as  he  did  in  many  instances, 


OF  A  WAR  CANOE.  191 

but  for  his  sister  and  brother-in-law, 
who,  together  with  a  few  more  of  their 
acquaintance,  engrossed  him  entirely 
to  themselves,  with  no  other  view  than 
to  strip  him  of  everything  he  had 
got.  And  they  would  undoubtedly 
have  succeeded  in  their  scheme,  if  I 
had  not  put  a  stop  to  it  in  time,  by 
taking  the  most  useful  articles  of  his 
property  into  my  possession.  But 
even  this  would  riot  have  saved  Omai 
from  ruin,  if  I  had  suffered  these  rela- 
tions of  his  to  have  gone  with  or  to 
have  followed  us  to  his  intended  place 
of  settlement,  Huaheine.  This  they 
had  intended,  but  I  disappointed  their 
further  views  of  plunder  by  forbid- 
ding them  to  show  themselves  in  that 
island  while  I  remained  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood ;  and  they  knew  me  too  well 
not  to  comply. 

On  the  28th  Otoo  came  on  board, 
and  informed  me  that  he  had  got  a 
canoe,  which  he  desired  I  would  take 
with  me,  and  carry  home  as  a  present 
from  him  to  the  "  Earee  rahie  no  Pre- 
tane;"  it  being  the  only  thing,  he 
said,  that  he  could  send  worth  his 
Majesty's  acceptance.  I  was  not  a 
little  pleased  with  Otoo  for  this  mark 
of  his  gratitude.  It  was  a  thought 
entirely  his  own,  not  one  of  us  having 
given  him  the  least  hint  about  it ;  and 
it  showed  that  he  fully  understood  to 
whom  he  was  indebted  for  the  most 
valuable  presents  that  he  had  received. 
At  first  I  thought  that  this  canoe  had 
been  a  model  of  one  of  their  vessels  of 
war ;  but  I  soon  found  that  it  was  a 
small  "ivahah,"  about  sixteen  feet 
long.  It  was  double,  and  seemed  to 
have  been  built  for  the  purpose  ;  and 
was  decorated  with  all  those  pieces  of 
carved  work  which  they  usually  fix 
upon  their  canoes.  As  it  was  too 
large  for  me  to  take  on  board,  I  could 
only  thank  him  for  his  good  inten- 
tion ;  but  it  would  have  pleased  him 
much  better  if  his  present  could  have 
been  accepted. 

We  were  detained  here  some  days 
longer  than  I  expected,  by  light 
breezes  from  the  west,  and  calms,  by 
turns  ;  so  that  we  could  not  get  out 
of  the  bay.  During  this  time  the 
ships  were  crowded  with  our  friends, 


192 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.      [Vov.  III.  B.  III.  CH.  IV. 


and  surrounded  by  a  multitude  of 
canoes  ;  for  not  one  would  leave  the 
place  till  we  were  gone.  At  length, 
at  3  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the 
29th  the  wind  came  at  east,  and  we 
weighed  anchor.  As  soon  as  the  ships 
were  under  sail,  at  the  request  of  Otoo, 
and  to  gratify  the  curiosity  of  his 
people,  I  fired  seven  guns  loaded  with 
shot  ;  after  which  all  our  friends, 
except  him  and  two  or  three  more, 
left  us  with  such  marks  of  affection 
and  grief  as  sufficiently  showed  how 
much  they  regretted  our  departure. 
Otoo  being  desirous  of  seeing  the  ship 
sail,  I  made  a  stretch  out  to  sea  and 
then  in  again  ;  when  he  also  bid  us 
farewell  and  went  ashore  in  his  canoe. 
The  frequent  visits  we  have  lately  paid 
to  this  island  seem  to  have  created  a 
full  persuasion  that  the  intercourse 
will  not  be  discontinued.  It  was 
strictly  enjoined  to  me  bv  Otoo  to 
request,  in  his  name,  the  "  Earee 
rahie  no  Pretane "  to  send  him  by 
the  next  ships  red  feathers  and  the 
birds  that  produce  them,  axes,  half-a- 
dozen  muskets,  with  powder  and  shot; 
and  by  no  means  to  forget  horses. 

I  have  occasionally  mentioned  my 
receiving  considerable  presents  from 
Otoo  and  the  rest  of  the  family,  with- 
out specifying  what  returns  I  made. 
It  is  customary  for  these  people,  when 
they  make  a  present,  to  let  us  know 
what  they  expect  in  return  ;  jtud  we 
find  it  necessary  to  gratify  them  ;  so 
that  what  we  get  by  way  of  '.resent 
comes  dearer  than  what  we  <?et  by 
barter.  But  as  we  were  so/aetimes 
pressed  by  occasional  scai>  *ty,  we 
could  have  recourse  to  our  6  .aids  for 
a  present  or  supply  who.  #e  could 
not  get  our  wants  relieved  by  any 
other  method  ;  and  therefore,  upon 
the  whole,  this  way  of  traffic  was  full 
as  advantageous  to  us  as  to  the  natives. 
For  the  most  part,  I  paid  for  each 
separate  article  as  I  received  it,  except 
in  my  intercourse  with  Otoo.  His 
presents  generally  came  so  fast  upon 
me,  that  no  account  was  kept  between 
us.  Whatever  he  asked  for  that  I 
could  spare,  he  had  whenever  he  asked 
for  it ;  and  I  always  found  him  moder- 
ate in  his  demands. 


If  I  could  have  prevailed  upon 
Omai  to  fix  himself  at  Otaheite,  I 
should  not  have  left  it  so  soon  as  I 
did.  For  there  was  not  a  probability 
of  our  being  better  or  cheaper  sup- 
plied with  refreshments  at  any  other 
place  than  we  continued  to  be  here 
even  at  the  time  of  our  leaving  it. 
Besides,  such  a  cordial  friendship  and 
confidence  subsisted  between  us  and 
the  inhabitants  as  could  hardly  be 
expected  any  where  else ;  and  it  was  a 
little  extraordinary  that  this  friendly 
intercourse  had  never  once  been  sus- 
pended by  any  untoward  accident, 
nor  had  there  been  a  theft  committed 
that  deserves  to  be  mentioned.  Not 
that  I  believe  their  morals  in  this 
respect  to  be  much  mended,  but  am 
rather  of  opinion  that  their  regularity 
of  conduct  was  owing  to  the  fear  the 
chiefs  were  under  of  interrupting  a 
traffic  which  they  might  consider  as 
the  means  of  securing  to  themselves 
a  more  considerable  share  of  our  com- 
modities than  could  have  been  got  by 
plunder  or  pilfering.  Indeed,  this 
point  I  settled  at  the  first  interview 
with  their  chiefs  after  my  arrival. 
For  observing  the  great  plenty  that 
was  in  the  island,  and  the  eagerness 
of  the  natives  to  possess  our  various 
articles  of  trade,  I  resolved  to  make 
the  most  of  these  two  favourable  cir- 
cumstances, and  explained  myself  in 
the  most  decisive  terms  that  I  would 
not  suffer  them  to  rob  us  as  they  had 
done  upon  many  former  occasions. 
In  this  Omai  was  of  great  use,  as  I 
instructed  him  to  point  out  to  them 
the  good  consequences  of  their  honest 
conduct,  and  the  fatal  mischiefs  they 
must  expect  to  suffer  by  deviating 
from  it.  It  is  not  always  in  the  power 
of  the  chiefs  to  prevent  robberies  ; 
they  are  frequently  robbed  themselves, 
and  complain  of  it  as  a  great  evil.  Otoo 
left  the  most  valuable  things  he  had 
from  me  in  my  possession  till  the  day 
before  we  sailed ;  and  the  reason  he 
gave  for  it  was  that  they  were  no- 
where so  safe.  Since  the  bringing-in 
of  new  riches,  the  inducements  to 
pilfering  must  have  increased.  The 
chiefs,  sensible  of  this,  are  now  ex- 
tremely desirous  of  chests.  They 


SEPT.  1777.]  ACCOUNT  OF  THE 
seemed  to  set  much  value  upon  a  few 
the  Spaniards  had  left  amongst  them ; 
and  they  were  continually  asking  us 
for  some.  I  had  one  made  for  Otoo, 
the  dimensions  of  which,  according 
to  his  own  directions,  were  eight  feet 
in  length,  five  in  breadth,  and  about 
three  in  depth.  Locks  and  bolts  were 
not  a  sufficient  security  ;  but  it  must 
be  large  enough  for  two  people  to  sleep 
upon,  by  way  of  guarding,  it  in  the 
night. 

It  will  appear  a  little  extraordinary 
that  we,  who  had  a  smattering  of  their 
language,  and  Omai  besides  for  an 
interpreter,  could  never  get  any  clear 
account  of  the  time  when  the  Span- 
iards arrived,  how  long  they  stayed, 
and  when  they  departed.  The  more 
we  inquired  into  this  matter,  the  more 
we  were  convinced  of  the  inability 
of  most  of  these  people  to  remember 
or  note  the  time  when  past  events 
happened;  especially  if  it  exceeded 
ten  or  twenty  months.  It,  however, 
appeared  by  the  date  of  the  inscrip- 
tion upon  the  cross,  and  by  the  in- 
formation we  received  from  the  most 
intelligent  of  the  natives,  that  two 
ships  arrived  at  Oheitepeha  in  1774, 
soon  after  I  left  Matavai,  which  was 
in  May  the  same  year.  They  brought 
with  them  the  house  and  live  stock 
before  mentioned.  Some  said  that 
after  landing  these  things,  and  some 
men,  they  sailed  in  quest  of  me  and 
returned  in  about  ten  days.  But  I 
have  some  doubt  of  the  truth  of  this, 
as  they  were  never  seen  either  at 
Huaheine  or  at  Ulietea,  The  live 
stock  they  left  here  consisted  of  one 
bull,  some  goats,  hogs,  and  dogs,  and 
the  male  of  some  other  animal ;  which 
we  afterward  found  to  be  a  ram,  and 
at  this  time  was  at  Bolabola,  whither 
the  bull  was  also  to  have  been  trans- 
ported. The  hogs  are  of  a  large 
kind,  have  already  greatly  improved 
the  breed  originally  found  by  us  upon 
the  island,  and  at  the  time  of  our  late 
arrival  were  very  numerous.  Goats 
are  also  in  tolerable  plenty,  there 
being  hardly  a  chief  of  any  note  that 
has  not  some.  As  to  the  dogs  that 
the  Spaniards  put  ashore,  which  are 
of  two  or  three  sorts,  I  think  they 


SPANISH  EXPEDITION.  1^3 

would  have  done  the  island  a  great 
deal  more  service  if  they  had  hanged 
them  all,  instead  of  leaving  them 
upon  it.  It  was  to  one  of  them  that 
my  young  ram  fell  a  victim. 

When  these  ships  left  the  islands 
four  Spaniards  remained  behind.  Two 
were  priests,  one  a  servant,  and  the 
fourth  made  himself  very  popular 
among  the  natives,  who  distinguish 
him  by  the  name  of  Mateema.  He 
seem,s  to.  have  been  a  person  who  had 
studied  their  language,  or  at  least  to 
have  spoken  it  so  as  to  be  understood ; 
and  to  have  taken  uncommon  pains 
to-  impress  the  minds  of  the  islanders 
with  the  most  exalted  ideas  of  the 
greatness  of  the  Spanish  nation,  and 
to  make  them  think  meanly  of  the 
English.  He  even  went  so  far  as 
to  assure  them  that  we  no  longer 
existed  as  an  independent  nation  ; 
that  "Pretane"  was  only  a  small 
island  which  they  (the  Spaniards) 
had  entirely  destroyed ;  and  for  me, 
that  they  had  met  with  me  at  sea, 
and  with  a  few  shot  had  sent  my 
ship  and  every  soul  in  her  to  the  bot- 
tom, so  that  my  visiting  Otaheite  at 
this  time  was  of  course  very  unex- 
pected. All  this  and  many  other 
improbable  falsehoods  did  this  Span- 
iard make  these  people  believe.  It 
Spain  had  no  other  views  in  this  ex- 
pedition but  to  depreciate  the  English 
they  had  better  have  kept  their  ships 
at  home  ;  for  my  returning  again  to 
Otaheite  was  considered  as  a  complete 
confutation  of  all  that  Mateema  had 
said. 

With  what  design  the  priests  stayed 
we  can  only  guess.  If  it  was  to  con- 
vert the  natives  to  the  Catholic  faith, 
they  have  not  succeeded  in  any  one 
instance.  But  it  does  not  appear 
that  they  ever  attempted  it;  for,  if 
the  natives  are  to  be  believed,  they 
never  conversed  with  them  either  on 
this  or  on  any  other  subject.  The 
priests  resided  constantly  in  the  hous« 
at  Oheitepeha;  but  Mateema  roved 
about,  visiting  most  parts  of  the 
island.  At  length,  after  he  and  his 
companions  had  stayed  ten  months, 
two  ships  came  to  Oheitepeha,  took 
them  on  board,  and  sailed  again  in 
N 


194 

five  days.  This  hasty  departure  shows 
that  whatever  design  the  Spaniards 
might  have  had  npon  this  island, 
they  had  now  laid  it  aside.  And  yet, 
as  I  was  informed  by  Otoo  and  many 
others,  before  they  went  away  they 
would  have  the  natives  believe  that 
they  still  meant  to  return,  and  to 
bring  with  them  houses,  all  kinds  of 
animals,  and  men  and  women  who 
were  to  settle,  live,  and  die  on  the 
island.  Otoo,  when  he  told  me  this, 
added  that  if  the  Spaniards  should 
return  he  would  not  let  them  come 
to  Matavai  Fort,  which,  he  said,  was 
ours.  It  was  easy  to  see  that  the 
idea  pleased  him,  little  thinking  that 
the  completion  of  it  would  at  once 
deprive  him  of  his  kingdom  and  the 
people  of  their  liberties.  This  shows 
with  what  facility  a  settlement  might 
be  made  at  Otaheite  ;  which,  grateful 
as  I  am  for  repeated  good  offices,  I  hope 
will  never  happen.  Our  occasional 
visits  may  in  some  respects  have 
benefited  its  inhabitants;  but  a  per- 
manent establishment  amongst  them 
conducted  as  most  European  estab- 
lishments amongst  Indian  nations 
have  unfortunately  been,  would,  J 
fear,  give  them  just  cause  to  lament 
that  our  ships  had  ever  found  them 
out.  Indeed,  it  is  very  unlikely  that 
any  measure  of  this  kind  should  ever 
be  seriously  thought  of,  as  it  can 
neither  serve  the  purposes  of  public 
ambition  nor  of  private  avarice ;  and 
without  such  inducements  I  may  pro- 
nounce that  it  will  never  be  under- 
taken. 

I  have  already  mentioned  the  visit 
that  I  had  from  one  of  the  two  natives 
of  this  island  who  had  been  canied 
by  the  Spaniards  to  Lima.  I  never 
saw  him  afterward;  which  I  rather 
wondered  at,  as  I  had  received  him 
with  uncommon  civility.  I  believe, 
however,  that  Omai  had  kept  him  at 
a  distance  from  me  by  some  rough 
usage,  jealous  that  there  should  be 
another  traveller  upon  the  island  who 
might  vie  with  himself.  Our  touch- 
ing at  Teneriffe  was  a  fortunate  cir- 
cumstance for  Omai,  as  he  prided 
himself  in  having  visited  a  place  be- 
longing to  Spain  as  well  as  this  man. 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.       [TOY,  III.  B.  III.  CH.  V, 


I  did  not  meet  with  the  other  who 
had  returned  from  Lima ;  but  Captain 
Clerke,  who  had  seen  him,  spoke  of 
him  as  a  low  fellow,  and  as  a  little 
out  of  his  senses.  His  own  country- 
men, I  found,  agreed  in  the  same 
account  of  him.  In  short,  these  two 
adventurers  seemed  to  be  held  in  no 
esteem.  They  had  not,  indeed,  been 
so  fortunate  as  to  return  home  with 
such  valuable  acquisitions  of  pro- 
perty as  we  had  bestowed  upon  Omai, 
and  with  the  advantages  he  reaped 
from  his  voyage  to  England,  it  must 
be  his  own  fault  if  he  should  sink 
into  the  same  state  of  insignificance. 


CHAPTER  T. 

As  I  did  not  give  up  my  design  of 
touching  at  Eimeo,  at  daybreak  in 
the  morning  of  the  30th,  after  leaving 
Otaheite,  I  stood  for  the  north  end 
of  the  island ;  the  harbour  which  I 
wished  to  examine  being  at  that  part 
of  it.  Omai,  in  his  canoe,  having 
arrived  there  long  before  us,  had 
taken  some  necessary  measures  to 
show  us  the  place.  However,  we 
were  not  without  pilots,  having  seve- 
ral men  of  Otaheite  on  board,  and 
not  a  few  women.  Not  caring  to 
trust  entirely  to  these  guides,  I  sent 
two  boats  to  examine  the  harbour ; 
and  on  their  making  the  signal  for 
safe  anchorage,  we  stood  in  with  the 
ships,  and  anchored  close  up  to  the 
head  of  the  inlet,  in  ten  fathoms 
water.  "We  had  no  sooner  anchored 
than  the  ships  were  crowded  with  the 
inhabitants,  whom  curiosity  alone 
brought  on  board ;  for  they  had 
nothing  with  them  for  the  purposes 
of  barter.  But  the  next  morning  this 
deficiency  was  supplied ;  several  canoes 
then  arriving  from  more  distant  parts, 
which  brought  with  them  abundance 
of  bread-fruit,  cocoa-nuts,  and  a  few 
hogs.  These  they  exchanged  for 
hatchets,  nails,  and  beads ;  for  red 
feathers  were  not  so  much  sought 
after  here  as  at  Otaheite.  The  ship 
being  a  good  deal  pestered  with  rats, 
I  hauled  her  within  thirty  yards  of 


OCT.  1777.]  VISIT  FROM  MAHEIKE. 

the  shore,  as  near  as  the  depth  of 
•water  would  allow,  and  made  a  path 
for  them  to  get  to  the  land,  by  fas- 
tening hawsers  to  the  trees.  It  is 
said  that  this  experiment  has  some- 
times succeeded,  but  I  believe  we  got 
clear  of  very  few,  if  any,  of  the  numer- 
ous tribe  that  haunted  us. 

In  the  morning  of  the  2d,  Maheine, 
the  chief  of  the  island,  paid  me  a 
visit.  He  approached  the  ship  with 
great  caution,  and  it  required  some 
persuasion  to  get  him  on  board. 
Probably  he  was  under  some  appre- 
hensions of  mischief  from  us  as  friends 
of  the  Otaheiteans  ;  these  people  not 
being  able  to  comprehend  how  we 
can  be  friends  with  any  one  without 
adopting  at  the  same  time  his  cause 
against  his  enemies.  Malieine  was 
accompanied  by  his  wife,  who,  as  I 
was  informed,  is  sister  to  Oam  o  of 
Otaheite,  of  whose  death  we  had  an 
account  while  we  were  at  this  island. 
I  made  presents  to  both  of  them,  of 
such  things  as  they  seemed  to  set  the 
highest  value  upon  ;  and  after  a  stay 
of  about  half-an-hour  they  went  away. 
Not  long  after,  they  returned  with  a 
large  hog,  which  they  meant  as  a  re- 
turn for  my  present,  but  I  made  them 
another  present  to  the  full  value  of  it. 
After  this  they  paid  a  visit  to  Captain 
Clei-ke. 

This  chief,  wh.o,  with  a  few  fol- 
lowers, has  made  himself  in  a  manner 
independent  of  Otaheite,  is  between 
forty  and  fifty  years  old.  He  is 
bald-headed,  which  is  rather  an  un- 
common appearance  in  these  islands 
at  that  age.  He  wore  a  kind  of 
turban,  and  seemed  ashamed  to  show 
his  head ;  but  whether  they  them- 
selves considered  this  deficiency  of 
hair  as  a  mark  of  disgrace,  or  whether 
they  entertained  a  notion  of  our  con- 
sidering it  as  such,  I  cannot  say.  We 
judged  that  the  latter  supposition  was 
the  truth,  from  this  circumstance, 
that  they  had  &$en  us  shave  the  head 
of  one  of  their  people  whom  we  had 
caught  stealing.  They  therefore  con- 
cluded that  this  was  the  punishment 
usually  inflicted  by  us  upon  all 
thieves  ;  and  one  or  two  of  our  gentle- 
men, whose  heads  were  not  overbur- 


195 


thened  with  hair,  we  could  observe, 
lay  under  violent  suspicions  of  being 
"  tetos. "  In  the  evening,  Omai  and  I 
mounted  on  horseback,  and  took  a 
ride  along  the  shore  to  the  eastward. 
Our  train  was  not  very  numerous,  as 
Omai  had  forbid  the  natives  to  fol- 
low us,  and  many  complied,  the  fear 
of  giving  offence  getting  the  better  of 
their  curiosity.  Towha  had  stationed 
his  fleet  in  this  harbour,  and  though 
the  war  lasted  but  a  few  days,  the- 
marks  of  its  devastation  were  every- 
where to  be  seen.  The  trees  were 
stripped  of  their  fruit,  and  all  the 
houses  in  the  neighbourhood  had  been 
pulled  down  or  burned. 

[On  the  morning  of  the  6th  they 
had  intended  putting  off  to  sea,  when 
they  were  prevented  by  first  one  and 
then  another  of  their  goats  being 
stolen.  One  of  them  was  recovered 
without  much  difficulty,  the  other 
was  only  restored  to  them  after  a 
threatening  message  had  been  sent  to 
the  chief  Maheine,  and  a  number  of 
their  canoes  had  been  burned.  ] 

About  9  o'clock  [on  the  llth]  we 
weighed  with  a  breeze  down  the  har- 
bour, but  it  proved  sx>  faint  and 
variable  that  it  was  noon  before  we 
got  Qut  to  sea,  when  I  steered  for 
Huaheine,  attended  by  Omai  in  his 
canoe.  He  did  not  depend  entirely 
upon  his  own  judgment,  but  had  got 
on  board  a  pilot.  I  observed  that 
they  shaped  as  direct  a  course  for  the 
island  as  I  could  do.  At  Eimeo  we 
ab^^ndantly  supplied  the  ships  with 
firewood.  We  had  not  taken  in  any 
at  Otaheite,  where  the  procuring  this 
article  would  have  been  very  incon- 
venient, there  not  being  a  tree  at 
Matavai  but  what  is  useful  to  the  in- 
habitants. We  also  got  here  good 
store  of  refreshments,  both  in  hogs 
and  vegetables,  that  is,  bread-fruit  and 
cocoa-nuts,  little  else  being  in  season. 
I  do  not  know  that  there  is  any  dif- 
ference between  the  produce  of  this 
island  and  of  Otaheite  ;  but  there  ia 
a  very  striking  difference  in  their 
women,  that  I  can  by  no  means 
account  for.  Those  of  Eimeo  are  of 
low  stature,  have  a  dark  hue,  find,  in 
general,  forbidding  features.  If  we 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.      [VoY.III.B.III.CH.  VI. 


met  with  a  fine  woman  amongst  them, 
we  were  sure,  upon  inquiry,  to  find 
that  she  had  come  from  some  other 
island. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

HAVING  left  Eimeo,  with  a  gentle 
breeze  and  fine  weather,  at  daybreak 
the  next  morning  we  saw  Huaheine 
extending  from  SW.  by  W.  half 
W.  to  "W.  by  N.  At  noon  we  anchor- 
ed at  the  nortli  entrance  of  Owharre 
harbour,  which  is  on  the  west  side  of 
the  island.  The  whole  afternoon  was 
spent  in  warping  the  ships  into  a  pro- 
per berth  and  mooring.  Omai  entered 
the  harbour  just  before  us  in  his 
canoe,  but  did  not  land.  Nor  did  he 
take  much  notice  of  any  of  his  country- 
men, though  many  crowded  to  see  him ; 
but  far  more  of  them  came  off  to  the 
ships,  insomuch  that  we  could  hardly 
work  on  account  of  their  numbers. 
Our  passengers  presently  acquainted 
them  with  what  we  bad  done  at 
Eimeo,  and  multiplied  the  number  of 
houses  and  canoes  that  we  had  de- 
stroyed by  ten  at  least.  I  was  not 
sorry  for  this  exaggerated  account,  as 
I  saw  that  it  made  a  great  impression 
upon  all  who  heard  it,  so  that  I  had 
hopes  it  would  induce  the  inhabitants 
of  this  island  to  behave  better  to  us 
than  they  had  done  during  my  former 
visits.  While  I  was  at  Otaheite  I 
had  learned  that  my  old  friend  Oree 
was  no  longer  the  chief  of  Huaheine  ; 
and  that  at  this  time  he  resided  at 
Ulietea.  Indeed,  he  never  had  been 
more  than  regent  during  the  minority 
of  Taircetareea,  the  present  "Earee 
rahie  ;"  but  he  did  not  give  up  the 
regency  till  he  was  forced.  His  two 
sons,  Qpoony  and  Towha,  were  the 
first  who  paid  me  a  visit,  coming  on 
board  before  the  ship  was  well  in  the 
harbour,  and  bringing  a  present  with 
them. 

Our  arrival  brought  all  the  princi- 
pal people  cf  the  island  to  our  ships 
on  the  next  morning,  being  the  13th. 
This  was  just  what  I  wished,  as  it 
was  high  time  to  think  of  settling 
Ouiai;  and  the  presence  of  these 


chiefs,  I  guessed,  would  enable  me  to 
do  it  in  the  most  satisfactory  manner. 
He  now  seemed  to  have  an  inclina- 
tion to  establish  himself  at  Ulietea  ; 
and  if  he  and  I  could  have  agreed 
about  the  mode  of  bringing  that  plan 
to  bear,  I  should  have  had  no  objec- 
tion to  adopt  it.  His  father  had  been 
dispossessed  by  the  men  of  Bolabola, 
when  they  conquered  Ulietea,  of  some 
land  in  that  island  ;  and  I  made  no 
doubt  of  being  able  to  get  it  restored 
to  the  son  in  an  amicable  manner. 
For  that  purpose  it  was  necessary 
that  he  should  be  upon  good  terms 
with  those  who  now  were  masters  of 
the  island  ;  but  he  was  too  great  a 
patriot  to  listen  to  any  such  thing, 
and  was  vain  enough  to  suppose  that 
I  would  reinstate  him  in  his  forfeited 
lands  by  force.  This  made  it  im- 
possible to  fix  him  at  Ulietea,  and 
pointed  out  to  me  Huaheine  as  the 
proper  place.  I  therefore  resolved  to 
avail  myself  of  the  presence  of  the 
chief  men  of  the  island,  and  to  make 
this  proposal  to  them. 

After  the  hurry  of  the  morning  was 
over,  we  got  ready  to  pay  a  formal 
visit  to  Taireetareea,  meaning  then  to 
introduce  his  business.  Omai  dressed 
himself  very  properly  on  the  occasion, 
and  prepared  a  handsome  present  for 
the  chief  himself,  and  another  for  his 
"  Eatooa."  Indeed,  after  he  had  got 
clear  of  the  gang  that  surrounded  him 
at  Otaheite,  he  behaved  with  such 
prudence  as  to  gain  respect.  Our 
landing  drew  most  of  our  visitors 
from  the  ships,  and  they,  as  well  as 
those  that  were  on  shore,  assembled 
in  a  large  house.  The  concourse  of 
people  on  this  occasion  was  very  great ; 
and  amongst  them  there  appeared  to 
be  a  greater  proportion  of  personable 
men  and  women  than  we  had  ever 
seen  in  one  assembly  at  any  of  these 
new  islands.  Not  only  the  bulk  of 
the  people  seemed  in  general  much 
stouter  and  fairer  than  those  of  Ota- 
heite, but  there  was  also  a  much 
greater  number  of  men  who  appeared 
to  be  of  consequence,  in  proportion 
to  the  extent  of  the  island ;  most  of 
whom  had  exactly  the  corpulent  ap- 
pearance of  the  chiefs  of  Wateeo. 


OCT.  1777.]  OMAI'S  SPEECH 

We  waited  some  time  for  Taireetareea, 
as  I  would  do  nothing  till  the  "  Earee 
rahie  "  came ;  but  when  he  appeared 
I  found  that  his  presence  might 
have  been  dispensed  with,  as  he  was 
not  above  eight  or  ten  years  of  age, 
Omai,  who  stood  at  a  little  distance 
from  this  circle  of  great  men,  began 
with  making  his  offering  to  the  gods, 
consisting  of  red  feathers,  cloth,  &c. 
Then  followed  another  offering,  which 
was  to  be  given  to  the  gods  by  the 
chief,  and  after  that  several  other 
small  pieces  and  tufts  of  red  feathers 
were  presented.  Each  article  was  laid 
before  one  of  the  company,  who,  I 
understood,  was  a  priest,  and  was  de- 
livered with  a  set  speech  or  prayer, 
spoken  by  one  of  Oniai's  friends  who 
sat  by  him,  but  mostly  dictated  by 
himself.  In  these  prayers  he  did  not 
forget  his  friends  in  England,  nor 
those  who  had  brought  him  safe  hack. 
The  "Earee  rahie  no  Pretane,"  Lord 
Sandwich,  "Toote,"  "  Tatee,"  l  were 
mentioned  in  every  one  of  them. 
"When  Omai's  offerings  and  prayers 
were  finished,  the  priest  took  each 
article,  in  the  same  order  in  which 
it  had  been  laid  before  him,  and  after 
repeating  a  prayer,  sent  it  to  the 
"morai,"  which,  as  Omai  told  us, 
was  at  a  great  distance,  otherwise  the 
offerings  would  have  been  made  there. 
These  religious  ceremonies  having 
been  performed,  Omai  sat  down  by 
me,  and  we  entered  upon  business  by 
giving  the  young  chief  my  present, 
and  receiving  his  in  return ;  and,  all 
things  considered,  they  were  liberal 
enough  on  both  sides.  Some  arrange- 
ments were  next  agreed  upon  as  to 
the  manner  of  carrying  on  the  inter- 
course betwixt  us ;  and  I  pointed  out 
the  mischievous  consequences  that 
would  attend  their  robbing  us  as  they 
had  done  during  my  former  visits. 
Omai's  establishment  was  then  pro- 
posed to  the  assembled  chiefs.  He 
acquainted  them  "  that  he  had  been 
carried  by  us  into  our  country,  where 
he  was  well  received  by  the  great 
King  and  his  'Earees,'  and  treated 
with  every  mark  of  regard  and  affec- 


TO  THE  CHIEFS. 


197 


1  Cooke  and  Clerke. 


tion  while  he  stayed  amongst  us ;  that 
he  had  been  brought  back  again,  en- 
riched by  our  liberality  with  a  variety 
of  articles  which  would  prove  very 
useful  to  his  countrymen ;  and  that, 
besides  the  two  horses  which  were  to 
remain  with  him,  several  other  new 
and  valuable  animals  had  been  left  at 
Otaheite,  which  would  soon  multiply 
and  furnish  a  sufficient  number  for 
the  use  of  all  the  islands  in  the 
neighbourhood.  He  then  signified 
to  them  that  it  was  my  earnest  re- 
quest, in  return  for  all  my  friendly 
offices,  that  they  would  give  him  a 
piece  of  laud  to  build  a  house  upon, 
and  to  raise  provisions  for  .himself  and 
servants,  adding  that  if  this  could  not 
be  obtained  for  him  in  Huaheine, 
either  by  gift  or  by  purchase,  I  was 
determined  to  carry  him  to  Ulietea 
and  fix  him  there. " 

Perhaps  I  have  here  made  a  better 
speech  for  my  friend  than  he  actually 
delivered,  but  these  were  the  topics 
I  dictated  to  him.  I  observed  that 
what  he  concluded  with,  about  carry- 
ing him  to  Ulietea,  seemed  to  meet 
with  the  approbation  of  all  the  chiefs, 
and  I  instantly  saw  the  reason.  Omai 
had,  as  I  have  already  mentioned, 
vainly  flattered  himself  that  I  meant 
to  use  force  in  restoring  him  to  his 
father's  lands  in  Ulietea,  and  he  had 
talked  idly  and  without  any  authority 
from  me  on  this  subject  to  some  of 
the  present  assembly,  who  dreamed 
of  nothing  less  than  a  hostile  invasion 
of  Ulietea,  and  of  being  assisted  by 
me  to  drive  the  Bolabola  men  out  of 
that  island.  It  was  of  consequence, 
therefore,  that  I  should  undeceive 
them ;  and  in  order  to  this  I  signified 
in  the  most  peremptory  manner  that 
I  neither  would  assist  them  in  such 
an  enterprise,  nor  suffer  it  to  be  put 
in  execution  while  I  was  in  their 
seas  ;  and  that  if  Omai  fixed  himself 
in  Ulietea,  he  must  be  introduced  as 
a  friend,  and  not  forced  upon  the 
Bolabola  men  as  their  conqueror. 

This  declaration  gave  a  new  turn 
to  the  sentiments  of  the  council. 
One  of  the  chiefs  immediately  ex- 
pressed himself  to  this  effect :  "  That 
the  whole  island  of  Huaheine,  and 


198 

everything  in  it,  were  mine,  aud  that 
therefore  I  might  give  what  portion 
of  it  I  pleased  to  my  friend."  Omai, 
who  like  the  rest  of  his  countrymen 
seldom  sees  things  beyond  the  present 
moment,  was  greatly  pleased  to  hear 
this,  thinking,  no  doubt,  that  I  should 
be  very  liberal  aud  give  him  enough. 
But  to  offer  what  it  would  have  been 
improper  to  accept,  I  considered  as 
offering  nothing  at  all ;  and  therefore 
I  now  desired  that  they  would  not 
only  assign  the  particular  spot,  but 
also  the  exact  quantity  of  land  which 
they  would  allot  for  the  settlement. 
Upon  this  some  chiefs  who  had  al- 
ready left  the  assembly  were  sent  for, 
and  after  a  short  consultation  among 
themselves,  my  request  was  granted 
by  general  consent,  and  the  ground 
immediately  pitched  upon  adjoining 
to  the  house  whez-e  our  meeting  was 
held.  The  extent,  along  the  shore  of 
the  harbour,  was  about  200  yards, 
and  its  depth  to  the  foot  of  the  hill 
somewhat  more  ;  but  a  proportional 
part  of  the  hill  was  included  in  the 
grant.  This  business  being  settled 
to  the  satisfaction  of  all  parties,  I  set 
up  a  tent  ashore,  established  a  post, 
and  erected  the  observatories.  The 
carpenters  of  both  ships  were  also  set 
to  work  to  build  a  small  house  for 
Omai,  in  which  he  might  secure  the 
European  commodities  that  were  his 
property.  At  the  same  time  some 
hands  were  employed  in  making  a 
garden  for  his  use,  planting  shad- 
docks, vines,  pine-apples,  melons,  and 
the  seeds  of  several  other  vegetable 
articles ;  all  of  which  I  had  the  satis- 
faction of  observing  to  be  in  a  nourish- 
ing state  before  I  left  the  island. 

Omai  now  began  seriously  to  at- 
tend to  his  own  affairs,  and  repented 
heartily  of  his  ill-judged  prodigality 
while  at  Otaheite.  He  found  at 
Huaheine  a  brother,  a  sister,  and  a 
brother-in-law,  the  sister  being  mar- 
ried ;  but  these  did  not  plunder  him 
as  he  had  lately  been  by  his  other 
relations.  I  was  sorry,  however,  to 
discover  that  though  they  were  too 
honest  to  do  him  any  injury,  they 
were  of  too  little  consequence  in  the 
island  to  do  him  any  positive  good. 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.      [VoY.III.B.III.CH.VI. 


They  had  neither  authority  nor  influ- 
ence to  protect  his  person  or  his  pro- 
rrty ;  and  in  that  helpless  situation 
had  reason  to  apprehend  that  he 
ran  great  risk  of  being  stripped  of 
everything  he  had  got  from  us  as 
soon  as  he  should  cease  to  have  us 
within  his  reach  to  enforce  the  good 
behaviour  of  his  countrymen  by  an 
immediate  appeal  to  our  irresistible 
power.  A  man  who  is  richer  than 
his  neighbours  is  sure  to  be  envied 
by  numbers  who  wish  to  see  him 
brought  down  to  their  own  level. 
But  in  countries  where  civilisation, 
law,  and  religion  impose  their  re- 
straints, the  rich  have  a  reasonable 
ground  of  security.  And,  besides, 
there  being  in  all  such  communities 
a  diffusion  of  property,  no  single  in- 
dividual need  fear  that  the  efforts  of 
all  the  poorer  sort  can  ever  be  united 
to  injure  him,  exclusively  of  others 
who  are  equally  the  objects  of  envy. 
It  was  very  different  with  Omai. 
He  was  to  live  amongst  those  who 
are  strangers,  in  a  great  measure,  to 
any  other,  principle  of  action  besides 
the  immediate  impulse  of  their  na- 
tural feelings.  But  what  was  his 
principal  danger,  he  was  to  be  placed 
in  the  very  singular  situation  of  being 
the  only  rich  man  in  the  community 
to  which  he  was  to  belong ;  and  hav- 
ing, by  a  fortunate  connection  with 
us,  got  into  his  possession  an  ac- 
cumulated quantity  of  a  species  of 
treasure  which  none  of  his  country- 
men could  create  by  any  art  or  in- 
dustry of  their  own,  while  all  coveted 
a  share  of  this  envied  wealth,  it  was 
natural  to  apprehend  that  all  would 
be  ready  to  join  in  attempting  to 
strip  its  sole  proprietor.  To  prevent 
this,  if  possible,  I  desired  him  to 
make  a  proper  distribution  of  some 
of  his  movables  to  two  or  three  of 
the  principal  chiefs,  who,  being  thus 
gratified  themselves,  might  be  induced 
to  take  him  under  their  patronage 
and  protect  him  from  the  injuries  of 
others.  He  promised  to  follow  my 
advice ;  and  1  heard  with  satisfaction 
before  I  sailed  that  this  very  prudent 
step  had  been  taken.  Not  trusting, 
however,  entirely  to  the  operation  of 


OCT.  1777.]         DAMAGE  DONE  BY  COCKROACHES. 


gratitude,  I  had  recourse  to  the  more 
forcible  motive  of  intimidation .  With 
this  view  I  took  every  opportunity  of 
notifying  to  the  inhabitants  that  it 
was  my  intention  to  return  to  their 
island  again,  after  being  absent  the 
usual  time,  and  that  if  I  did  not  find 
Ornai  in  the  same  state  of  security  in 
which  I  was  now  to  leave  him,  all 
those  whom  I  should  then  discover 
to  have  been  his  enemies  might  ex- 
pect to  feel  the  weight  of  my  resent- 
ment This  threatening  declaration 
will  probably  have  no  inconsiderable 
effect ;  for  our  successive  visits  of  late 
years  have  taught  these  people  to 
believe  that  our  ships  are  to  return 
at  certain  periods;  and  while  they 
continue  to  be  impressed  with  such 
a  notion,  which  I  thought  it  a  fair 
stratagem  to  confirm,  Omai  has  some 
prospect  of  being  permitted  to  thrive 
upon  his  new  plantation.1 

While  we  lay  in  this  harbour  we 
carried  ashore  the  bread  remaining  in 
the  bread-room  to  clear  it  of  vermin. 
The  number  of  cockroaches  that  in- 
fested the  ship  at  this  time  is  incred- 
ible. The  damage  they  did  us  was 
very  considerable,  and  every  method 
ievised  by  us  to  destroy  them  proved 
ineffectual.  These  animals,  which  at 
first  were  a  nuisance  like  all  other 
insects,  had  now  become  a  real  pest, 
and  so  destructive  that  few  things 
•were  free  from  their  ravages.  If  food 
of  any  kind  was  exposed  only  for  a  few 
minutes,  it  was  covered  with  them  ; 
and  they  soon  pierced  it  full  of  holes 
resembling  a  honeycomb.  They  were 
particularly  destructive  to  birds  which 
had  been  stuffed  and  preserved  as 
curiosities,  and,  what  was  worse,  were 
uncommonly  fond  of  ink,  so  that  the 
writing  on  the  labels  fastened  to  dif- 
ferent articles  was  quite  eaten  out ; 
and  the  only  thing  that  preserved 
books  from  them  was  the  closeness 
of  the  binding,  which  prevented 
these  devourers  getting  between  the 
leaves.  According  to  Mr  Anderson's 
observations,  they  were  of  two  sorts, 
the  Blatta  orientalis  and  germanica. 


1  See  Note  at  end  of  Chapter  on 
the  subsequent  fortunes  of  Omai. 


199 

The  first  of  these  had  been  earned 
home  in  the  ship  from  her  former 
voyage,  where  they  withstood  the 
severity  of  the  hard  winter  in  1776, 
though  she  was  in  dock  all  the  time. 
The  others  had  only  made  their  ap- 
pearance since  our  leaving  New  Zea- 
land, but  had  increased  so  fast,  that 
they  now  not  only  did  all  the  mischief 
mentioned  above,  but  had  even  got 
amongst  the  rigging,  so  that  when  a 
sail  was  loosened  thousands  of  them  fell 
upon  the  decks.  The  orientales,  though 
in  infinite  numbers,  scarcely  came  out 
but  in  the  night,  when  they  made 
everything  in  the  cabins  seem  as  if  in 
motion  from  the  particular  noise  in 
crawling  about.  And,  besides  their 
disagreeable  appearance,  they  did 
great  mischief  to  our  bread,  which 
was  so  bespattered  with  their  excre- 
ment that  it  would  have  been  badly 
relished  by  delicate  feeders. 

The  intercourse  of  trade  and  friendly 
offices  was  carried  on  between  us  and 
the  natives  without  being  disturbed 
by  any  one  accident  till  the  evening 
of  the  22d,  when  a  man  found  means 
to  get  into  Mr  Bayly's  observatory, 
and  to  carry  off  a  sextant  unobserved. 
As  soon  as  I  was  made  acquainted 
with  the  theft,  I  went  ashore  and  got 
Omai  to  apply  to  the  chiefs  to  procure 
restitution.  He  did  so,  but  they 
took  no  steps  toward  it,  being  more 
attentive  to  a  "  haiva  "  that  was  then 
acting,  till  I  ordered  the  performers 
of  the  exhibition  to  desist.  They 
were  now  convinced  that  I  was  in 
earnest,  and  began  to  make  some  in- 
quiry after  the  thief,  who  was  sitting 
in  the  midst  of  them  quite  uncon- 
cerned, insomuch  that  I  was  in  great 
doubt  of  his  being  the  guilty  person, 
especially  as  he  denied  it.  Omai, 
however,  assuring  me  that  he  was  the 
man,  I  sent  him  on  hoard  the  ship 
and  there  confined  him.  This  raised 
a  general  ferment  amongst  the  as- 
sembled natives,  and  the  whole  body 
fled  in  spite  of  all  my  endeavours  to 
stop  them.  Having  employed  Omai 
to  examine  the  prisoner,  with  some 
difficulty  he  was  brought  to  confess 
where  he  had  laid  the  sextant ;  but 
as  it  was  now  dark  he  could  not  find 


200 

it  till  daylight  the  next  morning, 
when  it  was  brought  back  unhurt. 
After  this  the  natives  recovered  from 
their  fright  and  began  to  gather  about 
us  as  usual.  And  as  to  the  thief,  he 
appearing  to  be  a  hardened  scoundrel, 
I  punished  him  more  severely  than  I 
had  done  any  culprit  before.  Besides 
having  his  head  and  beard  shaved,  I 
ordered  both  his  ears  to  be  cut  off, 
and  then  dismissed  him. 

This,  however,  did  not  deter  him 
from  giving  us  farther  trouble ;  for, 
in  the  night  between  the  24th  and 
25th,  a  general  alarm  was  spread, 
occasioned  as  was  said  by  one  of  our 
goats  being  stolen  by  this  very  man. 
On  examination  we  found  that  all  was 
safe  in  that  quarter.  Probably  the 
goats  were  so  well  guarded  that  he 
could  not  put  his  design  in  execution. 
But  his  hostilities  had  succeeded 
against  another  object,  and  it  appeared 
that  he  had  destroyed  and  carried  off 
several  vines  and  cabbage-plants  in 
Omai's  grounds ;  and  he  publicly 
threatened  to  kill  him  and  to  burn 
his  house  as  soon  as  we  should  leave 
the  island.  To  prevent  the  fellow's 
doing  me  and  Omai  any  more  mis- 
chief, I  had  him  seized  and  confined 
on  board  the  ship  with  a  view  of  car- 
rying him  off  the  island ;  and  it 
seemed  to  give  general  satisfaction  to 
the  chiefs  that  I  meant  thus  to  dis- 
pose of  him.  H0  was  from  Bolabola, 
but  there  were  too  many  of  the  natives 
here  ready  to  assist  him  in  any  of  his 
designs  whenever  he  should  think  of 
executing  them.  I  hadalwaysmetwith 
more  troublesome  people  in  Huaheine 
than  in  any  other  of  the  neighbouring 
islands  ;  and  it  was  only  fear,  and  the 
want  of  opportunities,  that  induced 
them  to  behave  better  now.  Anarchy 
seemed  to  prevail  amongst  them. 
Their  nominal  Sovereign,  the  "Earee 
rahie, "  as  I  have  before  observed,  was 
but  a  child  ;  and  I  did  not  find  that 
there  was  any  one  man,  or  set  of  men, 
who  managed  the  government  for  him ; 
so  that  whenever  any  misunderstand- 
ing happened  between  us,  I  never 
knew  with  sufficient  precision  where 
to  make  application  in  order  to  bring 
about  an  accommodation  or  to  procure 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.       [VoY.  III.  B.  III.  CH.  VI. 


redress.  The  young  chief's  mother 
would,  indeed,  sometimes  exert  her- 
self ;  but  I  did  not  perceive  that  she 
had  greater  authority  than  many 
others. 

Omai's  house  being  nearly  finished, 
many  of  his  movables  were  carried 
ashore  on  the  26th.  Amongst  a  variety 
of  other  useless  articles  was  a  box  of 
toys,  which  when  exposed  to  public 
view  seemed  greatly  to  please  the 
gazing  multitude.  But  as  to  his 
pots,  kettles,  dishes,  plates,  drinking- 
mugs,  glasses,  and  the  whole  train  of 
our  domestic  accommodations,  hardly 
any  one  of  his  countrymen  would  so 
much  as  look  at  them.  Omai  himself 
now  began  to  think  that  they  were  of  no 
manner  of  use  to  him  ;  that  a  baked  hog 
was  more  savoury  food  than  a  boiled 
one  ;  that  a  plantain-leaf  made  as 
good  a  dish  or  plate  as  pewter  ;  and 
that  a  cocoa-nut  shell  was  as  conveni- 
ent a  goblet  as  a  black-jack.  And 
therefore  he  very  wisely  disposed  of 
as  many  of  these  articles  of  English 
furniture  for  the  kitchen  and  pantry 
as  he  could  find  purchasers  for  amongst 
the  people  of  the  ships,  receiving  from 
them  in  return  hatchets  and  other 
iron  tools,  which  had  a  more  intrinsic 
value  in  this  part  of  the  world,  and 
added  more  to  his  distinguishing 
superiority  over  those  with  whom  he 
was  to  pass  the  remainder  of  his  days. 
In  the  long  list  of  the  presents  be- 
stowed upon  him  in  England  fire- 
works had  not  been  forgotten.  Some 
of  these  we  exhibited  in  the  evening 
of  the  28th  before  a  great  concourse 
of  people,  who  beheld  them  with  a 
mixture  of  pleasure  and  fear.  What 
remained  after  the  evening's  entertain- 
ment were  put  in  order  and  left  with 
Omai,  agreeably  to  their  original  des- 
tination. Perhaps  we  need  not  lament 
it  as  a  serious  misfortune  that  the  far 
greater  share  of  this  part  of  his  cargo 
had  been  already  expended  in  exhibi- 
tions at  other  islands,  or  rendered  use- 
less by  being  kept  so  long. 

Between  midnight  and  four  in  the 
morning  of  the  30th  the  Bolabola  man 
whom  I  had  in  confinement  found 
means  to  make  his  escape  out  of  tha 
ship.  He  carried  with  him  the  shackle 


OCT.  1777.J  ANIMALS  LEFT  WITH  OMAI. 

of  the  bilbo-bolt  that  was  about  his 
leg,  which  was  taken  from  him  as 
soon  as  he  got  on  shore  by  one  of  the 
chiefs,  and  given  to  Omai,  who  came 
on  board  very  early  in  the  morning 
to  acquaint  me  that  his  mortal  enemy 
was  again  let  loose  upon  him.  Upon 
inquiry  it  appeared  that  not  only  the 
sentry  placed  over  the  prisoner,  but 
the  whole  watch  upon  the  quarter- 
deck where  he  was  confined,  bad  laid 
themselves  down  to  sleep.  He  seized 
the  opportunity  to  take  the  key  of  the 
irons  out  of  the  binnacle-drawer, 
where  he  had  seen  it  put,  and  set 
himself  at  liberty.  This  escape  con- 
vinced me  that  my  people  had  been 
very  remiss  in  their  night-duty,  which 
made  it  necessary  to  punish  those  who 
were  now  in  fault,  and  to  establish 
some  new  regulations  to  prevent  the 
like  negligence  for  the  future.  I  was 
not  a  little  pleased  to  hear  afterwards 
that  the  fellow  who  escaped  had  trans- 
ported himself  to  Ulietea,  in  this 
seconding  my  views  of  putting  him  a 
second  time  in  irons. 

As  soon  as  Omai  was  settled  in  his 
new  habitation  I  began  to  think  of 
leaving  the  island,  and  got  everything 
off  from  the  shore  this  evening  except 
the  horse  and  mare,  and  a  goat  big 
with  kid,  which  were  left  in  the  pos- 
session of  our  friend,  with  whom  we 
were  now  finally  to  part.  I  also  gave 
him  a  boar  and  two  sows  of  the  Eng- 
lish breed,  and  he  had  got  a  sow  or 
two  of  his  own.  The  horse  covered 
the  mare  while  we  were  at  Otaheite, 
so  that  I  consider  the  introduction  of 
a  breed  of  horses  into  these  islands  as 
likely  to  have  succeeded  by  this  valu- 
able present.  The  history  of  Omai 
will  perhaps  interest  a  very  numerous 
class  of  readers  more  than  any  other 
occurrence  of  a  voyage,  the  objects  of 
which  do  not  in  general  promise  much 
entertainment.  Every  circumstance, 
therefore,  which  may  serve  to  convey 
a  satisfactory  account  of  the  exact 
situation  in  which  he  was  left  will  be 
thought  worth  preserving ;  and  the 
following  particulars  are  added  to 
complete  the  view  of  his  domestic 
establishment.  He  had  picked  up  at 
Otaheite  four  or  five  "  Toutous ;"  the 


201 

two  New  Zealand  youths  remained 
with  him  ;  and  his  brother  and  some 
others  joined  him  at  Huaheine,  so 
that  his  family  consisted  already  of 
eight  or  ten  persons,  if  that  can  ba 
called  a  family  to  which  not  a  single 
female  as  yet  belonged,  nor,  I  doubt, 
was  likely  to  belong,  unless  its  master 
became  less  volatile.  At  present  Omai 
did  not  seem  at  all  disposed  to  take 
unto  himself  a  wife.  The  house 
which  we  erected  for  him  was  twenty- 
four  feet  by  eighteen,  and  ten  feet 
high.  It  was  composed  of  boards, 
the  spoils  of  our  military  operations 
at  Eimeo  ;  and  in  building  it,  as  few 
nails  as  possible  were  used,  that  there 
might  be  no  inducement,  from  the 
love  of  iron,  to  pull  it  down.  It  was 
settled  that  immediately  after  our 
departure  he  should  begin  to  build  a 
large  house  after  the  fashion  of  his 
country,  one  end  of  which  was  to  be 
brought  over  that  which  we  had 
erected,  so  as  to  enclose  it  entirely  for 
greater  security.  In  this  work  some 
of  the  chiefs  promised  to  assist  him  ; 
and  if  the  intended  building  should 
cover  the  ground  which  he  marked 
out,  it  will  be  as  large  as  most  upon 
the  island.  His  European  weapons 
consisted  of  a  musket,  bayonet,  and 
cartouche-box  ;  a  fowling-piece  ;  two 
pair  of  pistols ;  and  two  or  three 
swords  or  cutlasses.  The  possession 
of  these  made  him  quite  happy,  which 
was  my  only  view  in  giving  him  such 
presents.  For  I  was  always  of  opinion 
that  he  would  have  been  happier  with- 
out fire-arms,  and  other  European 
weapons,  than  with  them  ;  as  such 
implements  of  war,  in  the  hands  of 
one  whose  prudent  use  of  them  I  had 
some  grounds  for  mistrusting,  would 
rather  increase  his  dangers  than  estab- 
lish his  superiority.  After  he  had  got 
on  shore  everything  that  belonged  to 
him,  and  was.  settled  in  his  house,  he 
had  most  of  the  officers  of  both  ships 
two  or  three  times  to  dinner  ;  and  his 
table  was  always  well  supplied  with 
the  very  best  provisions  that  the 
island  produced. 

Before  I  sailed,  I  had  the  follow- 
ing inscription  cut  upon  the  outside 
of  his  house  : 


202 

'*  Georgius  Tertius  Rex,  ZNovembris, 
1777. 

(  Resolution,  Jac.  Cook,  Pr. 

\  Discovery,  Car.  Clerke,  Pr." 

On  the  2d  of  November,  at  four  in 
the  afternoon,  I  took  the  advantage 
of  a  breeze  which  then  sprung  tip  at 
E.,  and  sailed  out  of  the  harbour. 
Most  of  our  friends  remained  on  board 
till  the  ships  were  under  sail ;  when, 
to  gratify  their  curiosity,  I  ordered 
five  guns  to  be  fired.  They  then  all 
took  their  leave,  except  Omai,  who  re- 
mained till  we  were  at  sea.  We  had 
come  to  sail  by  a  hawser  fastened  to  the 
shore.  In  casting  the  ship  it  parted, 
being  cut  by  the  rocks,  and  the  outer 
end  was  left  behind,  as  those  who  cast 
it  off,  did  not  perceive  that  it  was 
broken  ;  so  that  it  became  necessary 
to  send  a  boat  to  bring  it  on  board. 
In  this  boat  Omai  went  ashore,  after 
taking  a  very  affectionate  farewell  of 
all  the  officers.  He  sustained  himself 
with  a  manly  resolution  till  he  came 
to  me.  Then  his  utmost  efforts  to 
conceal  his  tears  failed ;  and  Mr 
King,  who  went  in  the  boat,  told  me 
that  he  wept  all  the  time  in  going 
ashore. 

It  was  no  small  satisfaction  to  re- 
flect that  we  had  brought  him  safe 
back  to  the  very  spot  from  which  he 
was  taken.  And  yet  such  is  the 
strange  nature  of  human  affairs,  that 
it  is  probable  we  left  him  in  a  less 
desirable  situation  than  he  was  in 
before  his  connection  with  us.  I  do 
not  by  this  mean  that,  because  he 
has  tasted  the  sweets  of  civilised  life, 
he  must  become  more  miserable  from 
being  obliged  to  abandon  all  thoughts 
of  continuing  them.  I  con  fine  myself 
to  this  single  disagreeable  circum- 
stance, that  the  advantages  he  receiv- 
ed from  us  have  placed  him  in  a  more 
hazardous  situation  with  respect  to 
his  personal  safety.  Omai,  from  be- 
ing much  caressed  in  England,  lost 
sight  of  his  original  condition,  and 
never  considered  in  what  manner  his 
acquisitions  either  of  knowledge  or 
of  riches  would  be  estimated  by  his 
countrymen  at  his  return ;  which 
were  the  only  things  he  could  have 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.  [VoY.  III.  B.  III.  Cn.  VI. 
to  recommend  him  to  them  now  mor« 
than  before,  and  on  which  he  could 
build  either  his  future  greatness  or 
happiness.  He  seemed  even  to  have 
mistaken  their  genius  in  this  respect, 
and,  in  some  measure  to  have  for- 
gotten their  customs  ;  otherwise  he 
must  have  known  the  extreme  diffi- 
culty there  would  be  in  getting  him- 
self admitted  as  a  person  of  rank, 
where  there  is  perhaps  no  instance 
of  a  man's  being  raised  from  an  infer- 
ior station  by  the  greatest  merit. 
Rank  seems  to  be  the  very  foundation 
of  all  distinction  here,  and  of  its 
attendant,  power ;  and  so  pertinaci- 
ously or  rather  blindly  adhered  to, 
that  unless  a  person  has  some  degree 
of  it,  he  will  certainly  be  despised 
and  hated  if  he  assumes  the  appear- 
ance of  exercising  any  authority.  This 
was  really  the  case  in  some  measure 
with  Omai  ;  though  his  countrymen 
were  pretty  cautious  of  expressing 
their  sentiments  while  we  remained 
among  them.  Had  he  made  a  propel 
use  of  the  presents  he  brought  with 
him  from  England,  this,  with  the 
knowledge  he  had  acquired  by  travel- 
ling so  far,  might  have  enabled  him 
to  form  the  most  useful  connections. 
But  we  have  given  too  many  instances, 
in  the  course  of  our  narrative,  of  his 
childish  inattention  to  this  obvious 
means  of  advancing  his  interest.  His 
schemes  seemed  to  be  of  a  higher 
though  ridiculous  nature  ;  indeed  I 
might  say  meaner  ;  for  revenge,  rather 
than  a  desire  of  becoming  great,  ap- 
peared to  actuate  him  from  the  begin- 
ning. This,  however,  may  be  excused 
if  we  consider  that  it  is  common  to 
his  countrymen.  His  father  was 
doubtless  a  man  of  considerable  pro- 
perty in  Ulietea  when  that  island  was 
conquered  by  those  of  Bolabola  ;  and, 
with  many  others,  sought  refuge  in 
Huaheine,  where  he  died  and  left 
Omai  with  some  other  children,  who 
by  that  means  became  totally  depend- 
ent. In  this  situation  he  was  taken 
up  by  Captain  Furneaux  and  carried 
to  England.  Whether  he  really  ex- 
pected, from  his  treatment  there,  that 
any  assistance  would  be  given  him 
against  the  enemies  of  his  father  and 


Nov.  1777.]  REMARKS  ON  THE 
his  country,  or  whether  he  imagined 
that  his  own  personal  courage  and 
superiority  of  knowledge  would  be 
sufficient  to  dispossess  the  conquerors 
of  Ulietea,  is  uncertain  ;  but  from  the 
beginning  of  the  voyage  this  was  his 
constant  theme.  He  would  not  listen 
to  our  remonstrances  on  so  wild  a 
determination  ;  but  flew  into  a  passion 
if  more  moderate  and  reasonable  coun- 
sels were  proposed  for  his  advantage. 
Nay,  so  infatuated  and  attached  to 
his  favourite  scheme  was  he,  that  he 
affected  to  believe  these  people  would 
certainly  quit  the  conquered  island 
as  soon  as  they  should  hear  of  his 
arrival  at  Otaheite.  As  we  advanced, 
however,  on  our  voyage,  he  became 
more  sensible  of  his  error ;  and  by 
the  time  we  reached  the  Friendly 
Islands  had  even  such  apprehensions 
of  his  reception  at  home,  that,  as  I 
have  mentioned  in  my  journal,  he 
would  fain  have  stayed  behind  at  Ton- 
gataboo  under  Feenou's  protection. 
At  these  islands  he  squandered  away 
much  of  his  European  treasure  very 
unnecessarily  ;  and  he  was  equally  im- 
prudent, as  I  also  took  notice  of  above, 
at  Tiaraboo,  where  he  could  have  no 
view  of  making  friends,  as  he  had  not 
any  intention  of  remaining  there.  At 
Matavai  he  continued  the  same  incon- 
siderate behaviour  till  I  absolutely 
put  a  stop  to  his  profusion  ;  and  he 
formed  such  improper  connections 
there,  that  Otoo,  who  was  at  first 
much  disposed  to  countenance  him, 
afterward  openly  expressed  his  dislike 
of  him  on  account  of  his  conduct. 
It  was  not,  however,  too  late  to  re- 
cover his  favour  ;  and  he  might  have 
settled  to  great  advantage  in  Otaheite, 
as  he  had  formerly  lived  several  years 
there,  and  was  now  a  good  deal  noticed 
by  Towha,  whose  valuable  present  of 
a  very  large  double  canoe  we  have 
seen  above.  The  objection  to  admit- 
ting him  to  some  rank  would  have 
also  been  much  lessened  if  he  had 
fixed  at  Otaheite  ;  as  a  native  will 
always  find  it  more  difficult  to  accom- 
plish such  a  change  of  state  amongst 
his  countrymen,  than  a  stranger,  who 
naturally  claims  respect.  But  Omai 
remained  undetermined  to  the  last, 


CONDUCT  OF  OMAI.  203 

and  would  not,  I  believe,  have  adopted 
my  plan  of  settlement  in  Huaheine, 
if  I  had  not  so  explicitly  refused  to 
employ  force  in  restoring  him  to  his 
father's  possessions.  Whether  the 
remains  of  his  European  wealth,  which 
after  all  his  improvident  waste  was 
still  considerable,  will  be  more  pru- 
dently administered  by  him,  or  whether 
the  steps  I  took  to  insure  him  protec- 
tion in  Huaheine  shall  have  proved 
effectual,  must  be  left  to  the  decision 
of  future  navigators  of  this  ocean; 
with  whom  it  cannot  but  be  a  prin- 
cipal object  of  curiosity  to  trace  the 
future  fortunes  of  our  traveller.  At 
present  I  can  only  conjecture  that 
his  greatest  danger  will  arise  from  the 
very  impolitic  declarations  of  his  an- 
tipathy to  the  inhabitants  of  Bola- 
bola.  For  these  people,  from  a 
principle  of  jealousy,  will  no  doubt 
endeavour  to  render  him  obnoxious 
to  those  of  Huaheine,  as  they  are  at 
peace  with  that  island  at  present,  and 
may  easily  effect  their  designs,  many 
of  them  living  there.  This  is  a  cir- 
cumstance which,  of  all  others,  he 
might  the  most  easily  have  avoided. 
For  they  were  not  only  free  from  any 
aversion  to  him,  but  the  person  men- 
tioned before,  whom  we  found  at 
Tiaraboo  as  an  ambassador,  priest,  or 
god,  absolutely  offered  to  reinstate 
him  in  the  property  that  was  formerly 
his  father's.  But  he  refused  this 
peremptorily ;  and  to  the  very  last 
continued  determined  to  take  the  first 
opportunity  that  offered  of  satisfying 
his  revenge  in  battle.  To  this,  I 
guess,  he  is  not  a  little  spurred  by 
the  coat  of  mail  he  brought  from  Eng- 
land ;  clothed  in  which,  and  in  posses- 
sion of  some  fire-arms,  he  fancies  that 
he  shall  be  invincible. 

Whatever  faults  belonged  to  Omai's 
character,  they  were  more  than  over- 
balanced by  his  great  good-nature 
and  docile  disposition.  During  the 
whole  time  he  was  with  me  I  very 
seldom  had  reason  to  be  seriously  dis- 
pleased with  his  general  conduct.  His 
grateful  heart  always  retained  the 
highest  sense  of  the  favours  he  had 
received  in  England ;  nor  will  he 
ever  forget  those  who  honoured  him 


204 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.     [VoY.  III.  B.III.  CH.  VII. 


with  their  protection  and  friendship 

during  his  stay  there.  He  had  a 
tolerable  share  of  understanding,  but 
wanted  application  and  perseverance 
to  exert  it ;  so  that  his  knowledge  of 
things  was  very  general,  and  in  many 
instances  imperfect.  He  was  not  a 
man  of  much  observation.  There  were 
many  useful  arts,  as  well  as  elegant 
amusements,  amongst  the  people  of 
the  Friendly  Islands,  which  he  might 
have  conveyed  to  his  own ;  where 
they  probably  would  have  been  readily 
adopted  as  being  so  much  in  their 
own  way.  But  1  never  found  that  he 
used  the  least  endeavour  to  make 
himself  master  of  any  one.  This  kind 
of  indifference  is,  indeed,  the  charac- 
teristic foible  of  his  nation.  Euro- 
peans have  visited  them  at  times  for 
these  ten  years  past,  yet  we  could  not 
discover  the  slightest  trace  of  any 
attempt  to  profit  by  this  intercourse  ; 
nor  have  they  hitherto  copied  after  us 
in  any  one  tiling.  We  are  not,  there- 
fore, to  expect  that  Omai  will  be  able 
to  introduce  many  of  our  arts  and 
customs  among  them,  or  much  im- 
prove those  to  which  they  have  been 
long  habituated.  I  am  confident, 
however,  that  he  will  endeavour  to 
"bring  to  perfection  the  various  fruits 
and  vegetables  we  planted,  which  will 
be  no  small  acquisition.  But  the 
greatest  benefit  these  islands  are  likely 
to  receive  from  Omai's  travels  will  be 
in  the  animals  that  have  been  left 
upon  them ;  which  probably  they 
never  would  have  got  had  he  not  come 
to  England.  When  these  multiply, 
of  which  I  think  there  is  little  doubt, 
Otaheite  and  the  Society  Islands  will 
equal,  if  not  exceed,  any  place  in  the 
known  world  for  provisions. 

Omai's  return,  and  the  substantial 
proofs  he  brought  back  with  him  of 
our  liberality,  encouraged  many  to  offer 
themselves  as  volunteers  to  attend  me 
to  "Pretane."  I  took  every  oppor- 
tunity of  expressing  my  determination 
to  reject  all  such  applications.  But 
notwithstanding  this,  Omai,  who  was 
very  ambitious  of  remaining  the  only 
great  traveller,  being  afraid  lest  I 
might  be  prevailed  upon  to  put  others 
in  a  situation  of  rivalling  him,  fre- 


quently put  me  in  mind  that  Lord 
Sandwich  had  told  him  no  others 
of  his  countrymen  were  to  come  to 
England.  If  there  had  been  the  most 
distant  probability  of  any  ship  being 
again  sent  to  New  Zealand,  I  would 
have  brought  the  two  youths  of  that 
country  home  with  me,  as  both  of 
them  were  very  desirous  of  continuing 
with  us.  Tiarooa,  the  eldest,  was  an 
exceedingly  well  disposed  young  man, 
with  strong  natural  sense,  and  capable 
of  receiving  any  instruction.  He 
seemed  to  be  fully  sensible  of  the  in- 
feriority of  his  own  country  to  these 
islands,  and  resigned  himself,  though 
perhaps  with  reluctance,  to  end  his 
days  in  ease  and  plenty  in  Huaheine. 
But  the  other  was  so  strongly  attached 
to  us,  that  he  was  taken  out  of  the 
ship  and  carried  ashore  by  force.  He 
was  a  witty,  smart  boy  ,  and  on  that 
account  much  noticed  on  board.1 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  boat  that  carried  Omai  ashore, 
never  to  join  us  again,  having  returned 
to  the  ship  with  the  remainder  of  the 


1  "  Omai  did  not  live  long  to  enjoy 
his  good  fortune  ;  it  does  not  appear 
that  he  had  any  reason  to  complain  of 
the  rapacity  or  covetousness  of  his 
neighbours.  The  numerous  articles 
of  European  manufacture  which  were 
in  his  possession  rendered  his  house  a 
splendid  museum  of  curiosities  in  the 
eyes  of  a  South  Sea  islander ;  and  it 
is  possible  that  his  pride  felt  gratified 
in  being  thus  able  to  minister  to  their 
wonder  and  admiration.  He  con- 
ducted himself  prudently,  and  gained 
the  esteem  of  his  neighbours  by  the 
affability  with  which  lie  recounted  his 
voyages  and  adventures.  About  two 
years  and  a  half  after  Captain  Cook's 
depai-ture,  Omai  died  a  natural  death ; 
nor  did  the  New  Zealanders  survive 
him  long  enough  to  furnish  European 
navigators  with  an  ampler  account  of 
the  influence  which  his  experience  and 
observations  abroad  may  have  exerted 
j  on  his  countrymen." 


Nov.  1777.]  INSTRUCTIONS  TO 
hawser,  we  hoisted  her  in  and  imme- 
diately stood  over  for  Ulietea,  where 
I  intended  to  touch  next.  At  10 
o'clock  at  night  we  brought  to  till 
four  the  next  morning,  when  we  made 
sail  round  the  south  end  of  the  island 
for  the  harbour  of  Ohamaneno.  We 
met  with  calms  and  light  airs  of  wind 
from  diiferent  directions  by  turns,  so 
that  at  noon  we  were  still  a  league 
from  the  entrance  of  the  harbour. 
While  we  were  thus  detained,  my  old 
friend  Oreo,  chief  of  the  island,  with 
his  son,  and  Pootoe,  his  son-in-law, 
came  off  to  visit  us.  .  .  . 

Though  we  had  separated  from 
Omai,  we  were  still  near  enough  to 
have  intelligence  of  his  proceeding  ; 
and  I  had  desired  to  hear  from  him. 
Accordingly,  about  a  fortnight  after 
our  arrival  at  Ulietea  he  sent  two  of 
his  people  in  a  canoe,  who  brought 
me  the  satisfactory  intelligence  that 
he  remained  undisturbed  by  the  people 
of  the  island,  and  that  everything  went 
well  with  him,  except  that  his  goat 
had  died  in  kidding.  He  accompanied 
this  intelligence  with  a  request  that 
I  would  send  him  another  goat  and 
two  axes.  Being  happy  to  have  this 
additional  opportunity  of  serving  him, 
the  messengers  were  sent  back  to  Hua- 
heine  on  the  18th  with  the  axes,  and 
two  kids,  male  and  female,  which  were 
spared  for  him  out  of  the  Discovery. 

The  next  day  1  delivered  to  Captain 
Clerke  instructions  how  to  proceed  in 
case  of  being  separated  from  me  after 
leaving  these  islands ;  and  it  may  not 
be  improper  to  give  them  a  place  here. 

"By  Captain  James  Cook,  Commander 
of  His  Majesty's  Sloop  the  Resolu- 
tion. 

"Whereas  the  passage  from  the 
Society  Islands  to  the  northern  coast 
of  America  is  of  considerable  length 
both  in  distance  and  in  time,  and  as 
a  part  of  it  must  be  performed  in  the 
very  depth  of  winter,  when  gales  of 
wind  and  bad  weather  must  be  ex- 
pected, and  may  possibly  occasion  a 
separation,  you  are  to  take  all  imagin- 
able care  to  prevent  this.  But  if,  not- 
withstanding all  our  endeavours  to 
keep  company,  you  should  be  separated 


CAPTAIN  CLERKE.  205 

from  me,  you  are  first  to  look  for  me 
where  you  last  saw  me.  Not  seeing 
me  in  five  days,  you  are  to  proceed 
(as  directed  by  the  instructions  of 
their  Lordships,  a  copy  of  which  you 
have  already  received)  for  the  coast  of 
New  Albion,  endeavouring  to  fall  in 
with  it  in  the  Latitude  of  45°. 

*'  In  that  latitude,  and  at  a  con- 
venient distance  from  the  land,  you 
are  to  cruise  for  me  ten  days.  Not 
seeing  me  in  that  time,  you  are  to 
put  into  the  first  convenient  port,  in 
or  to  the  north  of  that  latitude,  to 
recruit  your  wood  and  water,  and  to 
procure  refreshments. 

"During  your  stay  in  port,  you 
are  constantly  to  keep  a  good  look- 
out for  me.  It  will  be  necessary, 
therefore,  to  make  choice  of  a  station 
situated  as  near  the  sea-coast  as  is 
possible,  the  better  to  enable  you  to 
see  me  when  I  shall  appear  in  the 
offing. 

"  If  I  do  not  join  you  before  the 
1st  of  next  April,  you  are  to  put  to 
sea,  and  proceed  northward  to  the 
Latitude  56° ;  in  which  latitude,  and 
at  a  convenient  distance  from  the 
coast,  never  exceeding  fifteen  leagues, 
you  are  to  cruise  for  me  till  the  10th 
of  May. 

"  Not  seeing  me  in  that  time,  you 
are  to  proceed  northward,  and  endea- 
vour to  find  a  passage  into  the  Atlantic 
Ocean,  through  Hudson's  or  Baffin's 
Bays,  as  directed  by  the  above-men- 
tioned instructions. 

"  But  if  you  should  fail  in  finding 
a  passage  through  either  of  the  said 
bays,  or  by  any  other  way,  as  the 
season  of  the  year  may  render  it  unsafe 
for  you  to  remain  in  high  latitudes, 
you  are  to  repair  to  the  harbour  of  St 
Peter  and  St  Paul  in  Kamtschatka, 
in  order  to  refresh  your  people  and  to 
pass  the  winter. 

"  But  nevertheless  if  you  find  that 
you  cannot  procure  the  necessary  re- 
freshments at  the  said  port,  you  are 
at  liberty  to  go  where  you  shall  judge 
most  proper  ;  taking  care,  before  you 
depart,  to  leave  with  the  governor  an 
account  of  your  intended  destination, 
to  be  delivered  to  me  upon  my  arrival ; 
and  iu  the  spring  of  the  ensuing  year, 


206 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.     [Vov.  III.  B.  III.  Cn.  VII. 


1779,  you  are  to  repair  back  to  the 
above-mentioned  port,  endeavouring 
to  be  there  by  the  10th  of  May,  or 
sooner. 

"  If,  on  your  arrival,  you  receive 
no  orders  from,  or  account  of  me,  so 
as  to  justify  your  pursuing  any  other 
measures  than  what  are  pointed  out 
in  the  before-mentioned  instructions, 
your  future  proceedings  are  to  be 
governed  by  them. 

"  You  are  also  to  comply  with  such 
parts  of  said  instructions  as  have  not 
Been  executed,  and  are  not  contrary 
to  these  orders.  And  in  case  of  your 
inability,  by  sickness  or  otherwise,  to 
carry  these  and  the  instructions  of 
their  Lordships  into  execution,  you 
are  to  be  careful  to  leave  them  with 
the  next  officer  in  command,  who  is 
hereby  required  to  execute  them  in 
the  best  manner  he  can. 

"  Given  under  my  hand,  on  board 
the  Resolution,  at  Ulietea,  the 
18th  day  of  November  1777. 
"J.  COOK. 

"  To  Captain  Charles  ClerJce, 
Commander  of  His  Majesty' » 
Sloop  the  Discover)/." 

While  we  lay  moored  to  the  shore, 
we  heeled,  and  scrubbed  both  sides 
of  the  bottoms  of  the  ships.  At  the 
same  time,  we  fixed  some  tin  plates 
under  the  binds  ;  first  taking  off  the 
old  sheathing,  and  putting  in  a  piece 
unfilled,  over  which  the  plates  were 
nailed.  These  plates  I  had  from  the 
ingenious  Mr  Felham,  Secretary  to 
the  Commissioners  for  Victualling 
his  Majesty's  Navy,  with  a  view  of 
trying  whether  tin  would  answer  the 
same  end  as  copper  on  the  bottoms  of 
ships. 

On  the  24th  in  the  morning  I  was 
informed  that  a  midshipman  and  a 
seaman,  both  belonging  to  the  Dis- 
covery, were  missing.  Soon  after, 
we  learned  from  the  natives  thai  they 
went  away  in  a  canoe  the  preceding 
evening,  and  were  at  this  time  at  the 
other  end  of  the  island.  As  the  mid- 
shipman was  known  to  have  expressed 
a  desire  to  remain  at  these  islands,  it 
seemed  pretty  certain  that  he  and  his 


companion  had  gone  off  with  this  in- 
tention, and  Captain  Clerke  set  out  in 
quest  of  them  with  two  armed  boats 
and  a  party  of  marines.  His  expedi- 
tion proved  fruitless,  for  he  returned 
in  the  evening  without  having  got 
any  certain  intelligence  where  they 
were.  From  the  conduct  of  the 
natives,  Captain  Clerke  seemed  to 
think  that  they  intended  to  conceal 
the  deserters,  and  with  that  view  had 
amused  him  with  false  information 
the  whole  day,  and  directed  him  to 
search  for  them  in  places  where  they 
were  not  to  be  found.  The  captain 
judged  right,  for  the  next  morning 
we  were  told  that  our  runaways  were 
at  Otaha.  As  these  two  were  not  the 
only  persons  in  the  ships  who  wished 
to  end  their  days  at  these  favourite 
islands,  in  order  to  put  a  stop  to  any 
further  desertion  it  was  necessary  to 
get  them  back  at  all  events,  and  that 
the  natives  might  be  convinced  that 
I  was  in  earnest,  I  resolved  to  go 
after  them  myself,  having  observed, 
from  repeated  instances,  that  they 
seldom  offered  to  deceive  me  with 
false  information.  Accordingly  I  set 
out  the  next  morning  with  two  armed 
boats,  being  accompanied  by  the  chief 
himself.  1  proceeded,  as  he  directed, 
without  stopping  anywhere  till  we 
came  to  the  middle  of  the  east  side  of 
Otaha.  There  we  put  ashore  ;  and 
Oreo  despatched  a  man  before  us  with 
orders  to  seize  the  deserters  and  keep 
them  till  we  should  arrive  witli  th« 
boats.  But  when  we  got  to  the  place 
where  we  expected  to  find  them,  we 
were  told  that  they  had  quitted  this 
island  and  gone  over  to  Bolabola  the 
day  before.  I  did  not  think  proper 
to  follow  them  thither,  but  returned 
to  the  ships,  fully  determined,  how- 
ever, to  have  recourse  to  a  measure 
which  I  guessed  would  oblige  the 
nativ.es  to  bring  them  back. 

Soon  after  daybreak  the  chief,  his 
son,  daughter,  and  son-in-law  came 
on  board  the  Resolution.  The  three 
last  I  resolved  to  detain  till  the  two 
deserters  should  be  brought  back. 
With  this  view  Captain  Clerke  in- 
vited them  to  go  on  board  his  ship  ; 
and,  as  soon  as  they  arrived  there, 


Nov.  1777.]  CONFINEMENT  OF 
confined  them  in  his  cabin.  The 
chief  was  with  me  when  the  news 
reached  him.  He  immediately  ac- 
quainted me  with  it,  supposing  that 
this  step  had  been  taken  without  my 
knowledge  and  consequently  without 
my  approbation.  I  instantly  unde- 
ceived him;  and  then  he  began  to 
have  apprehensions  as  to  his  own 
situation,  and  his  looks  expressed  the 
utmost  perturbation  of  mind.  But  I 
soon  made  him  easy  as  to  this,  by 
telling  him  that  he  was  at  liberty  to 
leave  the  ship  whenever  he  pleased, 
and  to  take  such  measures  as  he 
should  judge  best  calculated  to  get 
our  two  men  back;  that  if  he  suc- 
ceeded, his  friends  on  board  the  Dis- 
covery should  be  delivered  up ;  if  not, 
that  I  was  determined  to  carry  them 
away  with  me.  I  added  that  his  own 
conduct,  as  well  as  that  of  many  of 
his  people,  in  not  only  assisting  these 
two  men  to  escape,  but  in  being  even 
at  this  very  time  assiduous  in  enticing 
others  to  follow  them,  would  jiistify 
any  step  I  could  take  to  put  a  stop 
to  such  proceedings. 

This  explanation  of  the  motives 
upon  which  I  acted,  and  which  we 
found  means  to  make  Oreo  and  his 
people  who  were  present  fully  com- 
prehend, seemed  to  recover  them  in  a 
great  measure  from  that  general  con- 
sternation into  which  they  were  at 
first  thrown.  But,  if  relieved  from 
apprehensions  about  their  own  safety, 
they  continued  under  the  deepest 
concern  for  those  who  were  prisoners. 
Many  of  them  went  under  the  Dis- 
covery's stern  in  canoes  to  bewail 
their  captivity ;  which  they  did  with 
long  and  loud  exclamations.  "  Poe- 
dooa!"  for  so  the  chief's  daughter  was 
called,  resounded  from  every  quarter, 
and  the  women  seemed  to  vie  with 
each  other  in  mourning  her  fate  with 
more  significant  expressions  of  their 
grief  than  tears  and  cries,  for  there 
were  many  bloody  heads  upon  the 
occasion.  Oreo  himself  did  not  give 
way  to  unavailing  lamentations,  but 
instantly  began  his  exertions  to  re- 
cover our  deserters  by  dispatching  a 
canoe  to  Bolabola  with  a  message  to 
Opoony,  the  Sovereign  of  that  island, 


THHEE  OF  THE  NATIVES.  207 
acquainting  him  with  what  had  hap- 
pened, and  requesting  him  to  seize 
the  two  fugitives  and  send  them  back. 
The  messenger,  who  was  no  less  a 
man  than  the  father  of  Pootoe,  Oreo's 
son-in-law,  before  he  set  out  came  to 
receive  my  commands.  I  strictly 
enjoined  him  not  to  return  without 
the  deserters ;  and  to  tell  Opoony 
from  me  that  if  they  had  left  Bola- 
bola he  must  send  canoes  to  bring 
them  back ;  for  I  suspected  that  they 
would  not  long  remain  in  one  place. 

The  consequence,  however,  of  the 
prisoners  was  so  great  that  the  natives 
did  not  think  proper  to  trust  to  the 
return  of  our  people  for  their  release  ; 
or  at  least  their  impatience  was  so 
great,  that  it  hurried  them  to  make 
an  attempt  which  might  have  involved 
them  in  still  greater  distress  had  it 
not  been  fortunately  prevented.  Be- 
tween 5  and  6  o'clock  in  the  evening 
I  observed  that  all  their  canoes  in 
and  about  the  harbour,  began  to 
move  off  as  if  some  sudden  panic  had 
seized  them.  I  was  ashore,  abreast 
of  the  ship  at  the  time,  and  in- 
quired in  vain  to  find  out  the  cause  ; 
till  our  people  called  to  us  from  the 
Discovery,  and  told  us  that  a  party 
of  the  natives  had  seized  Captain 
Clerke  and  Mr  Gore,  who  had  walked 
out  a  little  way  from  the  ships. 
Struck  with  the  boldness  of  this  plan 
of  retaliation,  which  seemed  to  coun- 
teract me  so  effectually  in  my  own 
way,  there  was  no  time  to  deliberate. 
I  instantly  ordered  the  people  to  arm, 
and  in  less  than  five  minutes  a  strong 
party  under  the  command  of  Mr 
King  was  sent  to  rescue  our  two 
gentlemen.  At  the  same  time  two 
armed  boats,  and  a  party  under  Mr 
Williamson,  went  after  the  flying 
canoes  to  cut  off  their  retreat  to  the 
shore.  These  several  detachments 
were  hardly  out  of  sight  before  an 
account  arrived  that  we  had  been 
misinformed  ;  upon  which  I  sent  and 
called  them  all  in. 

It  was  evident,  however,  from  seve- 
ral corroborating  circumstances,  that 
the  design  of  seizing  Captain  Clerke 
had  really  been  in  agitation  amongst 
the  natives ;  nay,  they  made  no 


208 

secret  in  speaking  of  it  the  next  day. 
But  their  first  and  great  plan  of  oper- 
ations was  to  have  laid  hold  of  me. 
It  was  my  custom  every  evening  to 
bathe  in  the  fresh  water.  Very  often  I 
went  alone,  and  always  without  arms. 
Expecting  to  go  as  usual  this  even- 
ing, they  had  determined  to  seize  me, 
and  Captain  Clerke  too,  if  he  had 
accompanied  me.  But  I  had,  after 
confining  Oreo's  family,  thought  it 
prudent  to  avoid  putting  myself  in 
their  power  ;  and  had  cautioned  Capr 
tain  Clerke  and  the  officers  not  to  go 
far  from  the  ships.  In  the  course  of 
the  afternoon  the  chief  asked  me  three 
several  times  if  I  would  not  go  to  the 
bathing-place  ;  and  when  he  found  at 
last  that  I  could  not  be  prevailed 
upon,  he  went  off  with  the  rest  of  his 
people,  in  spite  of  all  I  could  do  or 
say  to  stop  him.  But  as  I  had  no 
suspicion  at  this  time  of  their  design, 
I  imagined  that  some  sudden  fright 
had  seized  them,  which  would  as 
usual  soon  be  over.  Finding  them- 
selves disappointed  as  to  me,  they 
fixed  on  those  who  were  more  in  their 
power.  It  was  fortunate  for  all  parties 
that  they  did  not  succeed,  and  not 
less  fortunate  that  no  mischief  was 
done  on  the  occasion.  For  not  a 
musket  was  fired,  except  two  or  three 
to  stop  the  canoes.  To  that  firing, 
perhaps,  Messrs  Clerke  and  Gore  owed 
their  safety;1  for  at  that  very  instant 
a  party  of  the  natives  armed  with 
clubs  were  advancing  toward  them  ; 
and  on  hearing  the  report  of  the 
muskets  they  dispersed.  This  con- 
spiracy, as  it  may  be  called,  was 
first  discovered  by  a  girl  whom  one 
of  the  officers  had  brought  from  Hua- 
heine.  She,  overhearing  some  of  the 
Ulieteans  say  that  they  would  seize 
Captain  Clerke  and  Mr  Gore,  ran  to 
acquaint  the  first  of  our  people  that 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.     [VoY.IILB.III.Cn.VII. 


1  Perhaps  they  owed  their  safety 
principally  to  Captain  Clerke's  walk- 
ing with  a  pistol  in  his  hand,  which 
he  once  fired.  This  circumstance  is 
omitted  both  in  Captain  Cook's  and 
in  Mr  Anderson's  journal,  but  is  here 
mentioned  on  the  authority  of  Cap- 
tain King. — Note  in  Original  Edition. 


she  met  with.  Those  who  were 
charged  with  the  execution  of  the 
design  threatened  to  kill  her,  as  soon 
as  we  should  leave  the  island,  for  dis- 
appointing them.  Being  aware  of 
this,  we  contrived  that  her  friends 
should  come  some  days  after,  and 
take  her  out  of  the  ship  to  convey 
her  to  a  place  of  safety,  where  she 
might  lie  concealed  till  they  should 
have  an  opportunity  of  sending  her 
back  to  Huaheine. 

On  the  27th  our  observatories  were 
taken  down,  and  everything  we  had 
ashore  carried  on  board ;  the  moor- 
ings of  the  ships  were  cast  off;  and 
we  transported  them  a  little  way 
down  the  harbour,  where  they  came 
to  an  anchor  again.  Toward  the 
afternoon  the  natives  began  to  shake 
off  their  fears,  gathering  round  and 
on  board  the  ships  as  usual  ;  and  the 
awkward  transaction  of  the  day  be- 
fore seemed  to  be  forgotten  on  both 
sides.  The  following  night  the  wind 
blew  in  hard  squalls  from  S.  to  E., 
attended  with  heavy  showers  of  rain. 
In  one  of  the  squalls  the  cable  by 
which  the  Resolution  was  riding, 
parted  just  without  the  hawse.  "We 
had  another  anchor  ready  to  let  go  ; 
so  that  the  ship  was  presently  brought 
up  again.  In  the  afternoon  the  wind 
became  moderate,  and  we  hooked  the 
end  of  the  best  small  bower  cable  and 
got  it  again  into  the  hawse. 

Oreo,  the  chief,  being  uneasy,  as 
well  as  myself,  that  no  account  had. 
been  received  from  Bolabola,  set  out 
this  evening  for  that  island,  and  de- 
sired me  to  follow  down  the  next  day 
with  the  ships.  This  was  my  inten- 
tion, but  the  wind  which  kept  us  in 
the  harbour  brought  Oreo  back  from 
Bolabola  with  the  two  deserters. 
They  had  reached  Otaha  the  same 
night  they  deserted  ;  but  finding  it 
impossible  to  get  to  any  of  the  islands 
to  the  eastward  (which  was  their  in- 
tention) for  want  of  wind,  they  had 
proceeded  to  Bolabola,  and  from 
thence  to  the  small  island  Toobaee, 
where  they  were  taken  by  the  father 
of  Pootoe,  in  consequence  of  the  first 
message  sent  to  Opoony.  As  soon  as 
they  were  on  board,  the  three  pri- 


DEC.  1777.     OOROO,  THE  DETHRONED  KING  OF  ULIETEA.        209 


soners  were  released.  Thus  ended  an 
affair  which  had  given  me  much 
trouble  and  vexation.  Nor  would  I 
have  exerted  myself  so  resolutely  on 
the  occasion  hut  for  the  reason  before 
mentioned,  and  to  save  the  son  of  a 
brother  officer  from  being  lost  to  his 
country.  The  wind  continued  con- 
stantly between  the  N.  and  W.,  and 
confined  us  in  the  harbour  till  8  o'clock 
in  the  morning  of  the  7th  of  Decem- 
ber, when  we  took  the  advantage 
of  a  light  breeze  which  then  sprung 
up  at  NE.,  and  with  the  assistance 
of  all  the  boats  got  out  to  sea,  with 
the  Discovery  in  company. 

During  the  last  week  we  had  been 
visited  by  people  from  all  parts  of  the 
island,  who  furnished  us  with  a  large 
stock  of  hogs  and  green  plantains  ; 
BO  that  the  time  we  lay  wind-bound  in 
the  harbour  was  not  entirely  lost, 
green  plantains  being  an  excellent 
substitute  for  bread,  as  they  will  keep 
good  a  fortnight  or  three  weeks.  Be- 
sides this  supply  of  provisions  we 
also  completed  our  wood  and  water. 
The  inhabitants  of  Ulietea  seemed  in 
general  smaller  and  blacker  than 
those  of  the  other  neighbouring 
islands,  and  appeared  also  less  orderly, 
which  perhaps  may  be  considered  as 
the  consequence  of  their  having  be- 
come subject  to  the  natives  of  Bola- 
bola.  Oreo,  their  chief,  is  only  a 
sort  of  deputy  of  the  Sovereign  of 
that  island,  and  the  conquest  seems 
to  have  lessened  the  number  of  sub- 
ordinate chiefs  resident  among  them  ; 
so  that  they  are  less  immediately 
under  the  inspection  of  those  whose 
interest  it  is  to  enforce  due  obedience 
to  authority.  Ulietea,  though  now 
reduced  to  this  humiliating  state,  was 
formerly,  as  we  were  told,  the  most 
eminent  of  this  cluster  of  islands, 
and  probably  the  first  seat  of  govern- 
ment ;  for  they  say  that  the  present 
royal  family  of  Otaheite  is  descended 
from  that  which  reigned  here  before 
the  late  revolution.  Ooroo,  the  de- 
throned monarch  of  Ulietea,  was  still 
alive  when  we  were  at  Huaheine, 
where  he  resides,  a  royal  wanderer, 
furnishing  in  his  person  an  instance 
of  the  instability  of  power,  but  what  j 


is  more  remarkable,  of  the  respect 
paid  by  these  people  to  particulai 
families,  and  to  the  customs  which 
have  once  conferred  sovereignty  ;  for 
they  suffer  Ooroo  to  preserve  all  the 
ensigns  which  they  appropriate  to 
majesty,  though  he  has  lost  his  do- 
minions. 

\Ve  saw  a  similar  instance  of  this 
while  we  were  at  Ulietea.  One  of 
the  occasional  visitors  I  now  had  was 
my  old  friend  Oree,  the  late  chief  of 
Huaheine.  He  still  preserved  his 
consequence,  came  always  at  the 
head  of  a  numerous  body  of  attend- 
ants, and  was  always  provided  with 
such  presents  as  were  very  acceptable. 
This  chief  looked  much  better  now 
than  I  had  ever  seen  him  during 
either  of  my  former  voyages.1  I  could 
account  for  his  improving  in  health 
as  he  grew  older  only  from  his  drink- 
ing less  copiously  of  the  "ava"  in 
his  present  station  as  a  private  gentle- 
man than  he  had  been  accustomed  to 
da  when  he  was  regent. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

As  soon  as  we  had  got  clear  of  the 
harbour  we  took  leave  of  Ulietea  and 
steered  for  Bolabola.  The  chief,  if 
not  sole,  object  I  had  in  view  by 
visiting  that  island  was  to  procure 
from  its  monarch,  Opoony,  one  of  the 
anchors  which  M.  de  Bougainville 
had  lost  at  Otaheite.  This  having 
afterwards  been  taken  up  by  the 
natives  there,  had  as  they  informed 
me  been  sent  by  them  as  a  present  to 
that  chief.  My  desire  to  get  posses- 
sion of  it  did  not  arise  from  our  being 
in  want  of  anchors.  But  having  ex- 
pended all  the  hatchets  and  other 
iron  tools  which  we  had  brought  from 
England  in  purchasing  refreshments, 
we  were  now  reduced  to  the  necessity 
of  creating  a  fresh  assortment  of  trad- 


1  Captain  Cook  had  seen  Oree  in 
1769,  when  he  commanded  the  En- 
deavour; also  twice  during  his  second 
voyage  in  1772, — Note  in  Original 
Editimi. 

0 


210 

ing  articles  by  fabricating  them  out 
of  the  spare  iron  we  had  on  board; 
and  in  such  conversions,  and  in  the 
occasional  uses  of  the  ships,  great  part 
of  that  had  been  already  expended. 
I  thought  that  M.  de  Bougainville's 
anchor  would  supply  our  want  of  this 
useful  material,  and  I  made  no  doubt 
that  I  should  be  able  to  tempt  Opoony 
to  part  with  it. 

Oreo,  and  six  or  eight  men  more 
from  Ulietea,  took  a  passage  with  us 
to  Bolabola.  Indeed,  most  of  the 
natives  in  general,  except  the  chief 
himself,  would  have  gladly  taken  a 
passage  with  us  to  England.  At  sun- 
set, being  the  length  of  the  south 
point  of  Bolabola,  we  shortened  sail, 
and  spent  the  night  making  short 
boards.  At  daybreak  on  the  8th  we 
made  sail  for  the  harbour,  which  is 
on  the  west  side  of  the  island.  The 
wind  was  scant,  so  that  we  had  to  ply 
up,  and  it  was  9  o'clock  before  we 
got  near  enough  to  send  away  a  boat 
to  sound  the  entrance  ;  for  I  had 
thoughts  of  running  the  ships  in  and 
anchoring  for  a  day  or  two.  When 
the  boat  returned,  the  master,  who 
was  in  her,  reported  that  though  at 
the  entrance  of  the  harbour  the  bottom 
was  rocky,  there  was  good  ground 


, 

within,  and  the  depth  of  water  twenty- 
seven  and  twenty-five  fathoms,  and 
that  there  was  room  to  turn  the  ships 
in,  the  channel  being  one-third  of  a 
mile  broad.  In  consequence  of  this 
report  we  attempted  to  work  the  ships 
in  ;  but  the  tide  as  well  as  the  wind 
being  against  us,  after  making  two  or 
three  trips  I  found  that  it  could  not 
be  done  till  the  tide  should  turn  in 
our  favour.  Upon  this  I  gave  up  the 
design  of  carrying  the  ships  into  the 
harbour,  and  having  ordered  the  boats 
to  be  got  ready,  I  embarked  in  one  of 
them,  accompanied  by  Oreo  and  his 
companions,  and  was  rowed  in  for  the 
island. 

We  landed  where  the  natives  di- 
rected us,  and  soon  after  I  was  intro- 
duced to  Opoony,  in  the  midst  of  a 
great  concourse  of  people.  Having 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.    [VoY.III.  B.  III.  CH.  VIII. 

anchor,  and  produced  the  present  I 
had  prepared  for  him,  consisting  of  a 
linen  night-gown,  a  shirt,  some  gauze 
handkerchiefs,  a  looking-glass,  some 
beads  and  other  toys,  and  six  axes. 
At  the  sight  of  these  last  there  was  a 
general  outcry.  I  could  only  guess 
the  cause  by  Opoony's  absolutely  re- 
fusing to  receive  my  present  till  I 
should  get  the  anchor.  He  ordered 
three  men  to  go  and  deliver  it  to  me, 
and,  as  I  understood,  I  was  to  send 
by  them  what  I  thought  proper  in 
return.  With  these  messengers  we 
set  out  in  our  boats  for  an  island 
lying  at  the  north  side  of  the  entrance 
into  the  harbour,  where  the  anchor 
had  been  deposited.  I  found  it  to  be 
neither  so  large  nor  so  perfect  as  I 
expected.  It  had  originally  weighed 
700  pounds,  according  to  the  mark 
that  was  upon  it  ;  but  the  ring, 
with  part  of  the  shank,  and  the  two 
points,  were  now  wanting.  I  was 
no  longer  at  a  loss  to  guess  the  reason 
of  Opoony's  refusing  my  present  ;  he 
doubtless  thought  that  it  so  much 
exceeded  the  value  of  the  anchor  in 
its  present  state  that  I  should  be  dis- 
pleased when  1  saw  it.  Be  this  as  it 
may,  I  took  the  anchor  as  I  found  it. 
and  sent  him  every  article  of  the  pre- 
sent that  I  at  first  intended.  Having 


thus  completed  my  negotiation,  I  re- 
turned on  board,  and  having  hoisted 
in  the  boats,  made  sail  from  the  island 
to  the  north. 

While  the  boats  were  hoisting  in, 
some  of  the  natives  came  off  in  three 
or  four  canoes  to  see  the  ships,  as 
they  said.  They  brought  with  them 
a  few  cocoa-nuts  and  one  pig,  which 
was  the  only  one  we  got  at  the  island. 
I  make  no  doubt,  however,  that  if 
we  had  stayed  till  the  next  day  we 
should  have  been  plentifully  supplied 
with  provisions  ;  and  I  think  the 
natives  would  feel  themselves  disap- 
pointed when  they  found  that  we 
were  gone.  But  as  we  had  already 
a  very  good  stock  both  of  hogs  and 
of  fruit  on  board,  and  very  little  of 
anything  left  to  purchase  more,  I 
could  have  no  inducement  to  defer 


no  time  to  lose,  as  soon  as  the  neces- 
sary formality  of  compliments  was  j  any  longer   the   prosecution  of  our 
ever  I  asked  the  chief  to  give  me  the  I  voyage.     [An  account  is  here  omitted 


DEC.  1777.]        REPUTATION"  OF  THE  BOLABOLA  MEN". 


of  the  circumstances  attending  the 
conquest  of  Ulietea  and  Otaha  by  the 
people  of  Bolahola — those  two  islands 
remaining  under  the  sway  of  King 
Opoony,  while  Huaheine,  which  had 
also  been  conquered,  thanks  to  the 
aid  of  the  Otaheiteans,  regained  and 
retained  their  independence.  The 
reader  will  recall  Omai's  rancour 
against  the  Bolabolans,  through  whose 
predominance  in  the  contest  he  lost 
his  patrimony  in  Ulietea.] 

Ever  since  the  conquest  of  Ulietea 
and  Otaha,  the  Bolabola  men  have 
been  considered  by  their  neighbours 
as  invincible ;  and  such  is  the  extent 
of  their  fame,  that  even  at  Otaheite, 
which  is  almost  out  of  their  reach,  if 
they  are  not  dreaded,  they  are  at  least 
respected  for  their  valour.  It  is  said 
that  they  never  fly  in  battle,  and  that 
they  always  beat  an  equal  number  of 
the  other  islanders.  But,  besides 
these  advantages,  their  neighbours 
seem  to  ascribe  a  great  deal  to  the 
superiority  of  their  god,  who,  they 
believed,  detained  us  at  Ulietea  by 
contrary  winds,  as  being  unwilling 
that  we  should  visit  an  island  under 
his  special  protection.  How  high  the 
Bolabola  men  are  now  in  estimation 
at  Otaheite  may  be  inferred  from  M. 
de  Bougainville's  anchor  having  been 
conveyed  to  them.  To  the  same  cause 
we  must  ascribe  the  intention  of 
transporting  to  their  island  the  Span- 
ish bull.  And  they  had  already  got 
possession  of  a  third  European  curi- 
osity, the  male  of  another  animal, 
brought  to  Otaheite  by  the  Spaniards. 
We  had  been  much  puzzled  by  the 
imperfect  description  of  the  natives  to 
guess  what  this  could  be ;  but  Captain 
Clerke's  deserters,  when  brought  back 
from  Bolabola,  told  me  that  the  ani- 
mal had  been  there  shown  to  them, 
and  that  it  was  a  ram.  It  seldom 
happens  but  that  some  good  arises 
out  of  evil ;  and  if  our  two  men  had 
not  deserted  I  should  not  have  known 
this.  In  consequence  of  their  inform- 
ation, at  the  same  time  that  I  landed 
to  meet  Opoony,  I  carried  ashore  a 
ewe  which  we  had  brought  from  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope ;  and  I  hope  that 
by  this  present  I  have  laid  the  foimd- 


211 

ation  for  a  breed  of  sheep  at  Bola- 
bola. I  also  left  at  Ulietea,  under 
the  care  of  Oreo,  an  English  boar  and 
sow  and  two  goats ;  so  that  not  only 
Otaheite,  but  all  the  neighbouring 
islands  will  in  a  few  years  have  their 
race  of  hogs  considerably  improved, 
and  probably  be  stocked  with  all  the 
valuable  animals  which  have  been 
transported  hither  by  their  European 
visitors. 

When  once  this  conies  to  pass,  no 
part  of  the  world  will  equal  these 
islands  in  variety  and  abundance  of 
refreshments  for  navigators.  Indeed, 
even  in  their  present  state  I  know  no 
place  that  excels  them.  After  repeated 
trials  in  the  course  of  several  voyages, 
we  find  when  they  are  not  disturbed 
by  intestine  broils,  but  live  in  amity 
with  one  another,  which  has  been  the 
case  for  some  years  past,  that  their 
productions  are  in  the  greatest  plenty, 
and  particularly  the  most  valuable  of 
all  their  articles,  their  hogs.  If  wo 
had  had  a  larger  assortment  of  goods 
and  a  sufficient  quantity  of  salt  on 
board,  I  make  no  doubt  that  we  might 
have  salted  as  much  pork  as  would 
have  served  both  ships  near  twelve 
months.  But  our  visiting  the  Friendly 
Islands,  and  our  long  stay  at  Otaheite 
and  the  neighbourhood,  quite  ex- 
hausted our  trading  commodities,  par- 
ticularly our  axes,  with  which  alone 
hogs  in  general  were  to  be  purchased ; 
and  we  had  hardly  salt  enough  to 
cure  fifteen  puncheons  of  meat.  Of 
these,  five  were  added  to  our  stock  of 
provisions  at  the  Friendly  Islands, 
and  the  other  ten  at  Otaheite.  Cap- 
tain Clerke  also  salted  a  proportion- 
able quantity  for  his  ship. 

Perhaps  the  frequent  visits  Euro- 
peans have  lately  made  to  these  island- 
ers may  be  one  greatinducementto  their 
keeping  a  large  stock  of  hogs,  as  they 
have  had  experience  enough  to  know 
that  whenever  we  come  they  may  be 
sure  of  getting  from  us  what  they 
esteem  a  valuable  consideration  for 
them.  At  Otaheite  they  expect  the 
return  of  the  Spaniards  every  day  ; 
and  they  will  look  for  the  English 
two  or  three  years  hence  not  only 
there,  but  at  the  other  islands.  It  ia 


212 

to  no  purpose  to  tell  them  that  you 
will  not  return.  They  think  you 
must,  though  not  one  of  them  knows 
or  will  give  himself  the  tnnible  to 
inquire  the  reason  of  your  coming. 
I  own  I  cannot  avoid  expressing  it  as 
my  real  opinion,  that  it  would  have 
been  far  better  for  these  poor  people 
never  to  have  known  our  superiority 
in  the  accommodations  and  arts  that 
make  life  comfortable,  than  after  once 
knowing  it  to  be  again  left  and 
abandoned  to  their  original  incapacity 
of  improvement.  Indeed,  they  can- 
not be  restored  to  that  happy  medi- 
ocrity in  which  they  lived  before  we 
discovered  them,  if  the  intercourse 
between  us  should  be  discontinued. 
It  seems  to  me  that  it  has  become 
in  a  manner  incumbent  on  the  Euro- 
peans to  visit  them  once  in  three  or 
four  years,  in  order  to  supply  them 
with  those  conveniences  which  we 
have  introduced  among  them  and 
have  given  them  a  predilection  for. 
The  want  of  such  occasional  supplies 
will  probably  be  very  heavily  felt  by 
them,  when  it  may  be  too  late  to  go 
back  to  their  old,  less  perfect  con- 
trivances which  they  now  despise  and 
have  discontinued  since  the  introduc- 
tion of  ours.  For  by  the  time  that 
the  iron  tools  of  which  they  are  now 
possessed  are  worn  out,  they  will  have 
almost  lost  the  knowledge  of  their 
own.  A  stone  hatchet  is  at  present 
as  rare  a  thing  amongst  them  as  an 
iron  one  was  eight  years  ago,  and  a 
chisel  of  bone  or  stone  is  not  to  be 
seen.  Spike-nails  have  supplied  the 
place  of  the  last ;  and  they  are  weak 
enough  to  fancy  that  they  have  got 
an  inexhaustible  store  of  them,  for 
these  were  not  now  at  all  sought 
after.  Sometimes,  however,  nails 
much  smaller  than  a  spike  would 
still  be  taken  in  exchange  for  fruit. 
Knives  happened  at  present  to  be  in 
great  esteem  at  Ulietea,  and  axes  and 
hatchets  remained  unrivalled  by  any 
other  of  our  commodities  at  all  the 
islands.  With  respect  to  articles  of 
mere  ornament,  these  people  are  as 
changeable  as  any  of  the  polished 
nations  of  Europe  ;  so  that  what 
pleases  their  fancy  while  a  fashion  is 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.        [VoY.IIi.B.III.Cfl.IX. 


in  vogue  may  be  rejected  when  another 
whim  has  supplanted  it.  But  our 
iron  tools  are  so  strikingly  useful  that 
they  will,  we  may  confidently  pro- 
nounce, continue  to'prize  them  highly, 
and  be  completely  miserable  if,  neither 
possessing  the  materials  nor  trained 
up  to  the  art  of  fabricating  them, 
they  should  cease  to  receive  supplies 
of  what  may  now  be  considered  as 
having  become  necessary  to  their 
comfortable  existence.1 


CHAPTER  IX.9 

PERHAPS  there  is  scarcely  a  spot  in 
the  universe  that  affords  a  more 
luxuriant  prospect  than  the  south-east 
part  of  Otaheite.  The  hills  are  high 
and  steep,  and  in  many  places  craggy  ; 
but  they  are  covered  to  the  very  sum- 
mits with  trees  and  shrubs,  in  such  a 
manner  that  the  spectator  can  scarcely 
help  thinking  that  the  very  rocks 
possess  the  property  of  producing  and 
supporting  their  verdant  clothing. 
The  flat  land  which  bounds  those 
hills  toward  the  sea,  and  the  inter- 
jacent valleys,  abo  teem  with  various 
productions,  that  grow  with  the  most 
exuberant  vigour,  and  at  once  fill  the 
mind  of  the  beholder  with  the  idea 
that  no  place  upon  earth  can  outdo 
this  in  the  strength  and  beauty  of 
vegetation.  Nature  has  been  no  less 
liberal  in  distributing  rivulets,  which 
are  found  in  every  valley,  and,  as 
they  approach  the  sea,  often  divide 
into  two  or  three  branches,  fertilising 
the  flat  lands  through  which  they 
run.  The  habitations  of  the  natives 
are  scattered  without  order  upon  the 
flats,  and  many  of  them  appearing 

1  The  rest  of  the  Chapter,  chiefly 
consisting  of  the  record  of  astrono- 
mical  and   nautical   observations,  is 
omitted. 

2  This  Chapter,  contributed  by  Mr 
Anderson's  pen,  has   been   consider- 
ably curtailed    by    omission    of  the 
more  uninteresting  technical,  natu- 
ralistic,  linguistic,   and  professional 
passages. 


DEC.  1777.]  PRODUCTIONS 

toward  the  shore  presented  a  delight- 
ful scene  viewed  from  our  ships,  espe- 
cially as  the  sea,  within  the  reef  which 
bounds  the  coast,  is  perfectly  still, 
and  affords  a  safe  navigation  at  all 
times  for  the  inhabitants,  who  are 
often  seen  paddling  their  canoes  indo- 
lently along,  in  passing  from  place  to 
Elace,  or  in  going  to  fish.  On  view- 
ig  these  charming  scenes,  I  have 
often  regretted  my  inability  to  trans- 
mit to  those  who  have  had  no  oppor- 
tunity of  seeing  them  such  a  descrip- 
tion as  might  in  some  measure  con- 
vey an  impression  similar  to  what 
must  be  felt  by  every  one  who  has 
been  fortunate  enough  to  be  upon  the 
spot.  It  is  doubtless  the  natural 
fertility  of  the  country,  combined 
with  the  mildness  and  serenity  of  the 
climate,  that  renders  the  natives  so 
careless  in  their  cultivation  that  in 
many  places,  though  overflowing  with 
the  richest  productions,  the  smallest 
traces  of  it  cannot  be  observed. 

The  products  of  the  island  are  not 
so  remarkable  for  their  variety  as 
great  abundance  ;  and  curiosities  of 
any  kind  are  not  numerous.  Amongst 
these  we  may  reckon  a  pond  or  lake 
of  fresh  water,  at  the  top  of  one  of  the 
highest  mountains,  to  go  to  and  to 
return  from  which  takes  three  or  four 
days.  It  is  remarkable  for  its  depth, 
and  has  eels  of  an  enormous  size  in  it, 
which  are  sometimes  caught  by  the 
natives,  who  go  upon  this  water  in 
little  floats  of  two  or  three  wild  plan- 
tain trees  fastened  together.  This  is 
esteemed  one  of  the  greatest  natural 
curiosities  of  the  country,  insomuch 
that  travellers  who  come  from  the 
other  islands  are  commonly  asked, 
amongst  the  first  things,  by  their 
friends  at  their  return,  if  they  have 
seen  it.  There  is  also  a  sort  of  water, 
of  which  there  is  only  one  small  pond 
upon  the  island,  as  far  distant  as  the 
lake,  and  to  appearance  very  good, 
with  a  yellow  sediment  at  the  bottom ; 
but  it  has  a  bad  taste,  and  proves 
fatal  to  those  who  drink  any  quantity, 
or  makes  them  break  out  in  blotches 
if  they  bathe  in  it. 

Nothing  could  make  a  stronger  im- 
pression at  hrst  sight,  on  our  arrival 


OF  OTAHEITE.  213 

here,  than  the  remarkable  contrast 
between  the  robust  m^ke  and  dark 
colour  of  the  people  of  Tongataboo, 
and  a  sort  of  delicacy  and  whiteness 
which  distinguish  the  inhabitants  of 
Otaheite.  It  was  even  some  time 
before  that  difference  could  prepon- 
derate in  favour  of  the  Otaheiteans  ; 
and  then  only,  perhaps,  because  we 
became  accustomed  to  them,  the 
marks  which  had  recommended  the 
others  began  to  be  forgotten.  Their 
women,  however,  struck  us  as  supe- 
rior in  every  respect,  and  as  possess- 
ing all  those  delicate  characteristics 
which  distinguish  them  from  the 
other  sex  in  many  countries.  The 
beard,  which  the  men  here  wear  long, 
and  the  hair,  which  is  not  cut  so  short 
as  is  the  fashion  at  Tongataboo,  made 
also  a  great  difference  ;  and  we  could 
not  help  thinking  that  on  every 
occasion  they  showed  a  greater  de- 
gree of  timidity  and  fickleness.  The 
muscular  appearance  so  common 
amongst  the  Friendly  Islanders,  and 
which  seems  a  consequence  of  their 
being  accustomed  to  much  action,  is 
lost  here,  where  the  superior  fertility 
of  their  country  enables  the  inhabit- 
ants to  lead  a  more  indolent  life  ;  and 
its  place  is  supplied  by  a  plumpness 
and  smoothness  of  the  skin,  which, 
though  perhaps  more  consonant  with 
our  ideas'  of  beauty,  is  no  real  advan- 
tage, as  it  seems  attended  with  a  kind 
of  languor  in  all  their  motions,  not 
observable  in  the  others.  This  ob- 
servation is  fully  verified  in  their  box- 
ing and  wrestling,  which  may  be  called 
little  better  than  the  feeble  efforts  of 
children,  if  compared  to  the  vigour 
with  which  these  exercises  are  per- 
formed at  the  Friendly  Islands. 

Personal  endowments  being  in  great 
esteem  amongst  them,  they  have  re- 
course to  several  methods  of  improv- 
ing them,  according  to  their  notions 
of  beauty.  In  particular,  it  is  a 
practice,  especially  amongst  the 
"Erreoes,"  or  unmarried  men  of 
some  consequence,  to  undergo  a  kind 
of  physical  operation  to  render  them 
fair.  This  is  done  by  remaining  a 
month  or  two  in  the  house,  during 
which  time  they  wear  a  great  quaii- 


214 


tity  of  clothes,  and  eat  nothing  but 
bread-fruit,  to  which  they  ascribe  a 
remarkable  property  in  whitening 
them.  They  also  speak  as  if  their 
corpulence  and  colour  at  other  times 
depended  upon  their  food,  as  they  are 
obliged,  from  the  change  of  seasons, 
to  use  different  sorts  at  different  times. 
Their  common  diet  is  made  up  of  at 
least  nine-tenths  of  vegetable  food  ; 
and  I  believe  more  particularly  the 
"mahee,"  or  fermented  bread-fruit, 
which  enters  almost  every  meal,  has 
a  remarkable  effect  upon  them,  pre- 
venting a  costive  habit,  and  producing 
a  very  sensible  coolness  about  them, 
which  could  not  be  perceived  in  us 
who  fed  on  animal  food.  And  it  is 
perhaps  owing  to  this  temperate 
course  of  life  that  they  have  so  few 
diseases  among  them.  They  only 
reckon  fire  or  six,  which  might  be 
called  chronic  or  national  disorders ; 
amongst  which  are  the  dropsy,  and 
the  "fefai,"  or  indolent  swellings  be- 
fore mentioned  as  frequent  at  Tonga- 
taboo.  But  this  was  before  the  arri- 
val of  the  Europeans ;  for  we  have 
added  to  this  short  catalogue  a  dis- 
ease which  abundantly  supplies  the 
place  of  all  the  others,  and  is  now 
almost  universal.  For  this  they  seem 
to  have  no  effectual  remedy. 

Their  behaviour  on  all  occasions 
seems  to  indicate  a  great  •  openness 
and  generosity  of  disposition.  Omai, 
indeed,  who  as  their  countryman 
should  be  supposed  rather  willing  to 
conceal  any  of  their  defects,  has  often 
said  that  they  are  sometimes  cruel  in 
punishing  their  enemies.  According 
to  his  representation,  they  torment 
them  very  deliberately,  at  one  time 
tearing  out  small  pieces  of  flesh  from 
different  parts,  at  another  taking  out 
the  eyes,  then  cutting  of  the  nose, 
and  lastly  killing  them  by  opening 
the  belly.  But  this  only  happens  on 
particular  occasions.  If  cheerfulness 
argues  a  conscious  innocence,  one 
would  suppose  that  their  life  is  sel- 
dom sullied  by  crimes.  This,  how- 
ever, I  rather  impute  to  their  feelings, 
which,  though  lively,  seem  in  no  case 
permanent ;  for  I  never  saw  them  in 
any  misfortune  labour  under  the  ap- 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.      [VoY.  III.  B.  III.  CH.  IX. 

pearance  of  anxiety  after  the  critical 
moment  was  past.  Neither  does  care 
ever  seem  to  wrinkle  their  brow.  On 
the  contrary,  even  the  approach  of 
death  does  not  appear  to  alter  their 
usual  vivacity.  I  have  seen  them  when 
brought  to  the  brink  of  the  grave 
by  disease,  and  when  preparing  to  go 
to  battle,  but  in  neither  case  ever 
observed  their  countenances  over- 
clouded with  melancholy,  or  serious 
reflection.  Such  a  disposition  leads 
them  to  direct  all  their  aims  only  to 
what  can  give  them  pleasure  and  ease. 
Their  amusements  all  tend  to  excite 
and  continue  their  amorous  passions ; 
and  their  songs,  of  which  they  are  im- 
moderately fond,  answer  the  same 
purpose.  But  as  a  constant  succes- 
sion of  sensual  enjoyments  must  cloy, 
we  found  that  they  frequently  varied 
them  to  more  refined  subjects,  and 
had  much  pleasure  in  chanting  their 
triumphs  in  war  and  their  occupa- 
tions in  peace,  their  travels  to  other 
islands  and  adventures  there,  and  th<? 
peculiar  beauties  and  superior  advan 
tages  of  their  own  island  over  the  rest, 
or  of  different  parts  of  it  over  other 
less  favourable  districts.  This  marks 
that  they  receive  great  delight  from 
music  ;  and  though  they  rather  ex- 
pressed a  dislike  to  our  complicated 
compositions,  yet  were  they  always 
delighted  with  the  more  melodious 
sounds  produced  singly  on  our  instru- 
ments, as  approaching  nearer  to  the 
simplicity  of  their  own. 

Neither  are  they  strangers  to  the 
soothing  effects  produced  by  particu- 
lar sorts  of  motion,  which  in  some 
cases  seem  to  allay  any  perturbation 
of  mind  with  as  much  success  as 
music.  Of  this  I  met  with  a  remark- 
able instance.  For  on  walking  one 
day  about  Matavai  Point,  where  our 
tents  were  erected,  I  saw  a  man  pad- 
dling in  a  small  canoe  so  quickly,  and 
looking  about  him  with  such  eagerness 
on  each  side,  as  to  command  all  my 
attention.  At  first  I  imagined  that 
he  had  stolen  something  from  one  of 
the  ships,  and  was  pursued  ;  but,  on 
waiting  patiently,  saw  him  repeat  his 
amusement.  He  went  out  from  the 
shore  till  he  was  near  the  place  where 


DEC.  1777.]         LANGUAGE  OF  THE  OTAHEITEANS. 


the  swell  begins  to  take  its  rise  ;  and, 
watching  its  first  motion  very  atten- 
tively, paddled  before  it  with  great 
quickness,  till  he  found  that  it  over- 
looked him,  and  had  acquired  suffi- 
cient force  to  carry  his  canoe  before  it 
without  passing  underneath.  He 
then  sat  motionless,  and  was  carried 
along  at  the  same  swift  rate  as  the 
wave,  till  it  landed  him  upon  the 
beach.  Then  he  started  out,  emptied 
his  canoe,  and  went  in  search  of  an- 
other swell.  I  could  not  help  con- 
cluding that  this  man  felt  the  most 
supreme  pleasure  while  he  was  driven 
on  so  fast  and  so  smoothly,  by  the  sea; 
especially  as,  though  the  tents  and 
ships  were  so  near,  he  did  not  seem 
in  the  least  to  envy  or  even  to  take 
any  noticeof  the  crowdsof  his  country- 
men collected  to  view  them  as  objects 
which  were  rare  and  curious.  During 
my  stay,  two  or  three  of  the  natives 
came  up,  who  seemed  to  share  his 
felicity,  and  always  called  out  when 
there  was  an  appearance  of  a  favour- 
able swell,  as  he  sometimes  missed  it 
by  his  back  being  turned,  and  looking 
about  for  it.  By  them  I  understood 
that  this  exercise,  which  is  called 
"choroee,"  was  frequent  amongst 
them ;  and  they  have  probably  more 
amusements  of  this  sort  which  afford 
them  at  least  as  much  pleasure  as 
skating,  which  is  the  only  one  of  ours 
with  whose  effects  I  could  compare 
it. 

The  language  of  Otaheite  abounds 
with  beautiful  and  figurative  expres- 
sions which,  were  it  perfectly  known, 
would,  I  have  no  doubt,  put  it  upon 
a  level  with  many  of  the  languages 
that  are  most  in  esteem  for  their 
warmth  and  bold  images.  For  in- 
stance, the  Otaheiteans  express  their 
notions  of  death  very  emphatically  by 
saying  "that  the  soul  goes  into  dark- 
ness,' or  rather  "  into  night."  And 
if  you  seem  to  entertain  any  doubt 
in  asking  the  question,  "If  such  a 
person  is  their  mother  ? "  they  imme- 
diately reply  with  surprise,  "Yes, 
the  mother  that  bore  me."  They 
have  one  expression,  that  corresponds 
exactly  with  the  phraseology  of  the 
Scriptures,  where  we  read  of  the 


215 

"yearning  of  the  bowels."  They  use 
it  on  all  occasions  when  the  passions 
give  them  uneasiness  ;  as  they  con- 
stantly refer  pain  from  grief,  anxious 
desire,  and  other  affections,  to  the 
bowels  as  its  seat ;  where  they  like- 
wise suppose  all  operations  of  the 
mind  are  performed.  Their  language 
admits  of  that  inverted  arrangement 
of  words  which  so  much  distinguishes 
the  Latin  and  Greek  from  most  of 
our  modern  European  tongues,  whose 
imperfections  require  a  more  orderly 
construction,  to  prevent  ambiguities. 
It  is  so  copious  that  for  the  bread- 
fruit alone,  in  its  different  states, 
they  have  above  twenty  names  ;  as 
many  for  the  "  taro  "  root ;  and  about 
ten  for  the  cocoa-nut.  Add  to  this, 
that  besides  the  common  dialect  they 
often  expostulate  in  a  kind  of  stanza 
or  recitative,  which  is  answered  in 
the  same  manner. 

Their  arts  are  few  and  simple  ;  yet, 
if  we  may  credit  them,  they  perform 
cures  in  surgery  which  our  extensive 
knowledge  in  that  branch  has  not 
as  yet  enabled  us  to  imitate.  In 
simple  fractures  they  bind  them  up 
with  splints  ;  but  if  part  of  the  sub- 
stance of  the  bone  be  lost,  they  insert 
a  piece  of  wood  between  the  fractured 
ends,  made  hollow  like  the  deficient 
part.  In  five  or  six  days  the  ' ' rapaoo, " 
or  surgeon,  inspects  the  wound,  and 
finds  the  wood  partly  covered  with 
the  growing  flesh .  In  as  many  more 
days  it  is  generally  entirely  covered  ; 
after  which,  when  the  patient  has 
acquired  some  strength,  he  bathes  in 
the  water,  and  recovers.  We  know 
that  wounds  will  heal  over  leaden 
bullets ;  and  sometimes,  though  rarely, 
over  other  extraneous  bodies.  But 
what  makes  me  entertain  some  doubt 
of  the  truth  of  so  extraordinary  skill 
as  in  the  above  instance  is,  that  in 
other  cases  which  fell  under  my  own 
observation  they  are  far  from  being  so 
dexterous.  I  have  seen  the  stump  of 
an  arm,  which  was  taken  off  after  be- 
ing shattered  by  a  fall  from  a  tree, 
that  bore  no  marks  of  skilful  opera- 
tion, though  some  allowance  be  made 
for  their  defective  instruments.  And 
I  met  a  man  going  about  with  a  dis- 


216  COOK'S  VOYAGES, 

located  shoulder,  s«me  months  after 
the  accident,  from  their  being  ignor- 
ant of  a  method  to  reduce  it ;  though 
this  he  considered  as  one  of  the  sim- 
plest operations  of  our  surgery.  They 
know  that  fractures  or  luxations  of 
the  spine  are  mortal,  but  not  fractures 
of  the  skull ;  and  they  likewise  know 
from  experience  in  what  parts  of  the 
body  wounds  prove  fatal.  They  have 
sometimes  pointed  out  those  inflicted 
by  spears,  which,  if  made  in  the  direc- 
tion they  mentioned,  would  certainly 
have  been  pronounced  deadly  by  us  ; 
and  yet  these  people  have  recovered. 
Their  physical  knowledge  seems  more 
confined  ;  and  that,  probably,  because 
their  diseases  are  fewer  than  their 
accidents. 


[YoT.III.B.III.CH.IX. 
females  there  seems  to  be  no  such 
obscurity  ;  especially  as  to  their  con- 
nections with  the  men.  If  a  young 
man  and  woman,  from  mutual  choice, 
cohabit,  the  man  gives  the  father  of 
the  girl  such  things  as  are  necessary 
in  common  life,  as  hogs,  cloth,  or 
canoes,  in  proportion  to  the  time  they 
are  together ;  and  if  he  thinks  that 
he  has  not  been  sufficiently  paid  for 
his  daughter,  he  makes  no  scruple  of 
forcing  her  to  leave  her  friend  and  to 
cohabit  with  another  person  who  may 
be  more  liberal.  The  man,  on  his 
part,  is  always  at  liberty  to  make  a 
new  choice  ;  but,  should  his  consort 
become  pregnant,  he  may  kill  the 
child,  and  after  that  either  continue 
his  connection  with  the  mother  or 


The  times  of  eating  at  Otaheite  are  •  leave  her.     But  if  he  should  adopt 


very  frequent.  Their  first  meal,  or 
(as  it  may  rather  be  called)  their  last, 
as  they  go  to  sleep  after  it,  is  about 
2  o'clock  in  the  morning ;  and  the 
next  is  at  eight.  At  eleven  they  dine  ; 
and  again,  as  Omai  expressed  it,  at 
two  and  at  five ;  and  sup  at  eight. 
In  this  article  of  domestic  life  they 
have  adopted  some  customs  which  are 
exceedingly  whimsical.  The  women, 
for  instance,  have  not  only  the  mor- 
tification of  being  obliged  to  eat  by 
themselves,  and  in  a  different  part  of 
the  house  from  the  men  ;  but,  by  a 
strange  kind  of  policy,  are  excluded 
from  a  share  of  most  of  the  better 
sorts  of  food.  They  dare  not  taste 
turtle,  nor  fish  of  the  tunny  kind, 
which  is  much  esteemed,  nor  some 
particular  sorts  of  the  best  plantains  ; 
and  it  is  very  seldom  that  even  those 
of  the  first  rank  are  suffered  to  eat 
pork.  The  children  of  each  sex  also 
eat  apart,  and  the  women  generally 
serve  up  their  own  victuals  ;  for  they 
would  certainly  starve  before  any 
grown  man  would  do  them  such  an 
office.  In  this,  as  well  as  in  some 
other  customs  relative  to  their  eating, 
there  is  a  mysterious  conduct  which 
we  could  never  thoroughly  compre- 
hend. When  we  inquired  into  the 
reasons  of  it,  we  could  get  no  other 
answer  but  that  it  is  right  and  neces- 
sary it  should  be  so. 

In  other  customs  respecting    the 


the  child,  and  suffer  it  to  live,  the 
parties  are  then  considered  as  in  the 
married  state,  and  they  commonly 
live  together  ever  after.  However,  it 
is  thought  no  crime  in  the  man  to 
join  a  more  youthful  partner  to  his 
first  wife,  and  to  live  with  both.  The 
custom  of  changing  their  connections 
is,  however,  much  more  general  than 
this  last ;  and  it  is  a  thing  so  common 
that  they  speak  of  it  with  great  indif- 
ference. The  "Erreoes,"1  are  only 
those  of  the  better  sort  who  from  their 
fickleness,  and  their  possessing  the 
means  of  purchasing  a  succession  of 
fresh  connections,  are  constantly  roam- 
ing about,  and,  from  having  no  par- 
ticular attachment,  seldom  adopt  the 
more  settled  method  mentioned  above. 
And  so  agreeable  is  this  licentious 
plan  of  life  to  their  disposition,  that 
the  most  beautiful  of  both  sexes  thus 


1  Otherwise  spelt  "Arreoys."  In 
the  Original  Edition  there  is  a  long 
and  learned  note  at  this  point,  the 
only  part  of  which  really  pertinent  is 
the  citation  of  Father  le  Gobien's 
"History  of  the  Ladrone  Islands," 
where  he  describes  a  similar  society 
under  the  substantially  identical  de- 
signation of  "Urritoes."  His  words 
are:  "Les  Urritoes  sont  parmi  eux 
les  jeunes  gens  qui  vivent  avec  des 
mattresses,  sans  vouloir  s'engager  dans 
les  liens  du  mariage." 


DEC.  1777.]  SYSTEM  OF 

commonly  spend  their  youthful  days, 
habituated  to  the  practice  of  enor- 
mities which  would  disgrace  the  most 
savage  tribes,  but  are  peculiarly  shock- 
ing amongst  a  people  whose  general 
character,  in  other  respects,  has  evi- 
dent traces  of  the  prevalence  of  humane 
and  tender  feelings.  When  an  "  Er- 
reoe  "  woman  is  delivered  of  a  child, 
a  piece  of  cloth  dipped  in  water  is 
applied  to  the  mouth  and  nose,  which 
suffocates  it.  As  in  such  a  life  their 
women  must  contribute  a  very  large 
share  of  its  happiness,  it  is  rather 
surprising,  besides  the  humiliating 
restraints  they  are  laid  under  with 
regard  to  food,  to  find  them  often 
treated  with  a  degree  of  harshness,  or 
rather  brutality,  which  one  would 
scarcely  suppose  a  man  would  bestow 
on  an  object  for  whom  he  had  the 
least  affection.  Nothing,  however, 
is  more  common  than  to  see  the  men 
beat  them  without  mercy;  and  unless 
this  treatment  is  the  effect  of  jealousy, 
which  both  sexes  at  least  pretend  to 
be  sometimes  infected  with,  it  will 
be  difficult  to  admit  this  as  the  motive, 
as  I  have  seen  several  instances  where 
the  women  have  preferred  personal 
beauty  to  interest.  Though  I  must 
own,  that  even  in  these  cases  they 
seem  scarcely  susceptible  of  those 
delicate  sentiments  that  are  the  result 
of  mutual  affection  ;  and  I  believe 
that  there  is  less  Platonic  love  in 
Otaheite  than  in  any  other  country. 

Their  religious  system  is  extensive, 
and  in  many  instances  singular  ;  but 
few  of  the  common  people  have  a  per- 
fect knowledge  of  it,  that  being  con- 
fined chiefly  to  their  priests,  who  are 
pretty  numerous.  They  do  not  seem 
to  pay  any  respect  to  one  god  as  pos- 
sessing pre-eminence,  but  believe  in 
a  plurality  of  divinities  who  are  all 
very  powerful ;  and  in  this  case,  as 
different  parts  of  the  island,  and  the 
other  islands  in  the  neighbourhood, 
have  different  ones,  the  inhabitants 
of  each  no  doubt  think  that  they  have 
chosen  the  most  eminent,  or  at  least 
one  who  is  invested  with  power  suffi- 
cient to  protect  them  and  to  supply 
nil  their  wants.  If  he  should  not 
answer  their  expectations,  they  think 


RELIGION. 


217 


"•it  no  impiety  to  change ;  as  very  lately 
happened  in  Tiaraboo,  where  in  the 
room  of  the  two  divinities  formerly 
honoured  there,  Oraa,1  god  of  Bola- 
bola,  has  been  adopted,  1  should  sup- 
pose because  he  is  the  protector  of  a 
people  who  have  been  victorious  in 
war ;  and  as,  since  they  have  made 
this  change,  they  have  been  very  suc- 
cessful themselves  against  the  inhabi- 
tants of  ' '  Otaheite-nooe, "  they  impute 
it  entirely  to  "Oraa,"  who,  as  they 
literally  say,  fights  their  battles. 

Their  assiduity  in  serving  their 
gods  is  remarkably  conspicuous.  Not 
only  the  "  whattas,"  or  offering  places 
of  the  "  morais, "  are  commonly  loaded 
with  fruit  and  animals  ;  but  there  are 
few  houses  where  you  do  not  meet 
with  a  small  place  of  the  same  sort 
near  them.  Many  of  them  are  so 
rigidly  scrupulous,  that  they  will  not 
begin  a  meal  without  first  laying  aside 
a  morsel  for  the  ' '  Eatooa  ; "  and  we 
had  an  opportunity  during  this  voyage 
of  seeing  their  superstitious  zeal  car- 
ried to  a  most  pernicious  height,  in, 
the  instance  of  human  sacrifices,  the 
occasions  of  offering  which  I  doubt 
are  too  frequent.  Perhaps  they  have 
recourse  to  them  when  misfortunes 
occur ;  for  they  asked  if  one  of  our 
men  who  happened  to  be  confined 
when  we  were  detained  by  a  contrary 
wind  was  "taboo."2  Their  prayers 
are  also  very  frequent,  which  they 
chant  much  after  the  manner  of  the 
songs  in  their  festive  entertainments. 
And  the  women,  as  in  other  cases,  are 
also  obliged  to  show  their  inferiority 
in  religious  observances  ;  for  it  is  re- 
quired of  them  that  they  should  partly 
uncover  themselves  as  they  pass  the 
"morais,"  or  take  a  considerable  cir- 
cuit to  avoid  them.  Though  they 
have  no  notion  that  their  god  must 
always  be  conferring  benefits,  without 
sometimes  foi-getting  them,  or  suffer- 

1  We  have  here  an  instance  of  the 
same  word  being  differently  pro- 
nounced by  the  people.  Captain 
Cook  speaks  of  Olla  as  the  Bolabola 
god. 

*  That  is,  if  he  had  been  killed  for 
a  sacrifice. 


218  COOK'S  VOYAGES. 

ing  evil  to  befall  them,  they  seem  to 

regard  this  less  than  the  attempts  of 

some  more  inauspicious  being  to  hurt 

them.     They  tell  us  that  "Etee"  is 

an  evil  spirit,   who   sometimes  does 

them  mischief,  and  to  whom,  as  well 

as  to  their  god,  they  make  offerings. 

But   the   mischiefs   they  apprehend 

from  any  superior  invincible  beings 

are  confined  to  things  merely  tem- 

poral. 

They  believe  the  soul  to  be  both 
immaterial  and  immortal.  They  say 
that  it  keeps  fluttering  about  the  lips 
during  the  pangs  of  death  ;  and  that 
then  it  ascends  and  mixes  with,  or  as 
they  express  it,  is  eaten  by  the  deity. 
In  this  state  it  remains  for  some  time, 
after  which  it  departs  to  a  certain 
place  destined  for  the  reception  of 
the  souls  of  men,  where  it  exists  in 
eternal  night,  or,  as  they  sometimes 
say,  in  twilight  or  dawn.  They  have 
no  idea  of  any  permanent  punishment 
after  death  for  crimes  that  they  have 
committed  on  earth  ;  for  the  souls  of 
good  and  bad  men  are  eaten  indiscri- 
minately by  God.  But  they  certainly 
consider  this  coalition  with  the  Deity 
as  a  kind  of  purification  necessary  to 
be  undergone  before  they  enter  a  state 
of  bliss.  For,  according  to  their  doc- 
trine, if  a  man  refrain  from  all  con- 
nection with  women  some  months 
before  death,  he  passes  immediately 
into  his  eternal  mansion  without  such 
a  previous  union,  as  if  already,  by  this 
abstinence,  he  were  pure  enough  to 
be  exempted  from  the  general  lot. 
They  are,  however,  far  from  enter- 


taining those  sublime  conceptions  of 
happiness  which  our  religion  and, 
indeed,  reason  give  us  room  to  expect 
hereafter.  The  only  great  privilege 


[VoY.III.B.III.Cn.IX. 

meeting  of  man  and  wife.  If  the 
husband  dies  first  the  soul  of  his  wife 
is  known  to  him  on  its  arrival  in  the 
land  of  spirits.  They  resume  their 
former  acquaintance  in  a  spacious 
house  called  "tourooa,"  where  the 
souls  of  the  deceased  assemble  to  re- 
create themselves  with  the  gods.  She 
then  retires  with  him  to  his  separate 
habitation,  where  they  remain  for 
ever,  and  have  an  offspring,  which, 
however,  is  entirely  spiritual,  as  they 
are  neither  married,  nor  are  their  em- 
braces supposed  to  be  the  same  as  with 
corporeal  beings. 

Some  of  their  notions  about  the 
Deity  are  extravagantly  absurd.  They 
believe  that  he  is  subject  to  the  power 
of  those  very  spirits  to  whom  he  has 
given  existence  ;  and  that,  in  their 
turn,  they  frequently  eat  or  devour 
him,  though  he  possess  the  power  of 
re-creating  himself.  They,  doubtless, 
use  this  mode  of  expression,  as  they 
seem  incapable  of  conversing  about 
immaterial  things  without  constantly 
referring  to  material  objects  to  convey 
their  meaning.  And  in  this  manner 
they  continue  the  account,  by  saying 
that  in  the  "tourooa"  the  deity  in- 
quires if  they  intend  or  not  to  destroy 
him  ;  and  that  he  is  not  able  to  alter 
their  determination.  This  is  known 
to  the  inhabitants  on  earth,  as  well  as 
to  the  spirits  ;  for  when  the  moon  is 
in  its  wane  it  is  said  that  they  are 
then  devouring  their  "Eatooa;"  and 
that,  as  it  increases,  he  is  renewing 
himself.  And  to  this  accident  not 
only  the  inferior  but  the  most  eminent 


gods  are  liable.  They  also  believe 
that  there  are  other  places  for  the  re- 
ception of  souls  at  death.  Thus  those 
who  are  drowned  in  the  sea  remain 


they  seem  to  think  they  shall  acquire  j  there,  where  they  think  that  there  is 


by  death  is  immortality ;  for  they 
speak  of  spirits  being  in  some  measure 
not  totally  divested  of  those  passions 
which  actuated  them  when  combined 
with  material  vehicles.  Thus  if  souls 
who  were  formerly  enemies  should 
meet,  they  have  many  conflicts, 
though,  it  should  seem,  to  no  pur- 
pose, as  they  are  accounted  invulner- 
able in  this  invisible  state.  There  is 
a  similar  reasoning  with  regard  to  the 


a  fine  country,  houses,  and  everything 
that  can  make  them  happy.  But  what 
is  more  singular,  they  maintain  that 
not  only  all  other  animals,  but  trees, 
fruit,  and  even  stones,  have  souls, 
which  atdeath,  oruponbeingconsumed 
or  broken,  ascend  to  the  divinity,  with 
whom  they  first  mix,  and  afterward 
pass  into  the  mansion  allotted  to  each. 
They  imagine  that  their  punctual 
performance  of  religious  offices  pro- 


DEC.  1777.]        TRADITIONS  ABOUT  THE  CREATION. 


cures  for  them  every  temporal  blessing. 
And  as  they  believe  that  the  animating 
and  powerful  influence  of  the  divine 
spirit  is  everywhere  diffused,  it  is  no 
wonder  that  they  join  to  this  many 
superstitious  opinions  about  its  opera- 
tions. Accordingly,  they  believe  that 
sudden  deaths  and  all  other  accidents 
are  affected  by  the  immediate  action 
of  some  divinity.  If  a  man  only 
stumble  against  a  stone  and  hurt  his 
toe,  they  impute  it  to  an  "Eatooa  ;" 
so  that  they  may  be  literally  said, 
agreeably  to  their  system,  to  tread 
enchanted  ground.  They  are  startled 
in  the  night  on  approaching  a  "too- 
papaoo,"  where  the  dead  are  exposed, 
in  the  same  manner  that  many  of 
our  ignorant  and  superstitious  people 
are  with  the  apprehensions  of  ghosts 
and  at  the  sight  of  a  churchyard  ; 
and  they  have  an  equal  confidence 
in  dreams,  which  they  suppose  to  be 
communications  either  from  their  god 
or  from  the  spirits  of  their  departed 
friends,  enabling  those  favoured  with 
them  to  foretell  future  events  ;  but 
this  kind  of  knowledge  is  confined  to 
particular  people.  Omai  pretended 
to  have  this  gift.  He  told  us  that 
the  soul  of  his  father  had  intimated 
to  him  in  a  dream,  on  the  26th  of 
July  1776,  that  he  should  go  on  shore 
at  some  place  within  three  days  ;  but 
he  was  unfortunate  in  this  first  attempt 
to  persuade  us  that  he  was  a  prophet, 
for  it  was  the  1st  of  August  before  we 
got  into  Teneriffe.  Amongst  them, 
however,  the  dreamers  possess  a  repu- 
tation little  inferior  to  that  of  their 
inspired  priests  and  priestesses,  whose 
predictions  they  implicitly  believe,  and 
are  determined  by  them  in  all  under- 
takings of  consequence.  They  also 
in  some  degree  maintain  our  old  doc- 
trine of  planetary  influence  ;  at  least 
they  are  sometimes  regulated  in  their 
public  counsels  by  certain  appearances 
of  the  moon ;  particularly  when  lying 
horizontally,  or  much  inclined  on  the 
convex  part,  on  its  first  appearance 
after  the  change,  they  are  encouraged 
to  engage  in  war  with  confidence  of 
success. 

They  have    traditions    concerning 
the  creation,  which,  as  might  be  ex 


219 

pected,  are  complex  and  clouded  with 
obscurity.  They  say  that  a  goddess 
having  a  lump  or  mass  of  earth  sus- 
pended in  a  cord  gave  it  a  swing,  and 
scattered  about  pieces  of  land,  thus 
constituting  Otaheite  and  the  neigh- 
bouring islands,  which  were  all  peopled 
by  a  man  and  woman  originally  fixed 
at  Otaheite.  This,  however,  only  re- 
spects their  own  immediate  creation, 
for  they  have  notions  of  a  universal 
one  before  this,  and  of  lands  of  which 
they  have  now  no  other  knowledge 
than  what  is  mentioned  in  the  tradi- 
tion. Their  most  remote  account 
reaches  to  Tatooma  and  Tapuppa,  male 
and  female  stones  or  rocks,  who  sup- 
port the  congeries  of  land  and  water, 
or  our  globe,  underneath.  These  pro- 
duced Totorro,  who  was  killed  and 
divided  into  land  ;  and  after  him  Otaia 
and  Oroo  were  begotten,  who  were 
afterward  married,  and  produced  first 
land  and  then  a  race  of  gods.  Otaia 
is  killed,  and  Oroo  marries  a  god,  her 
son,  called  Teorraha,  whom  she  orders 
to  create  more  land,  the  animals,  and 
all  sorts  of  food  upon  the  earth  ;  as 
also  the  sky,  which  is  supported  by 
men  called  Teeferei.  The  spots  ob- 
served in  the  moon  are  supposed  to 
be  groves  of  a  sort  of  trees  which  once 
grew  in  Otaheite,  and,  being  destroyed 
by  some  accident,  their  seeds  were 
carried  up  thither  by  doves,  where 
they  now  flourish. 

They  have  also  many  legends  both 
religious  and  historical,  one  of  which 
latter,  relative  to  the  practice  of  eating 
human  flesh,  I  shall  give  the  sub- 
stance of  as  a  specimen  of  their 
method.  A  long  time  since  there 
lived  in  Otaheite  two  men  called 
"Taheeai,"  the  only  name  they  yet 
have  for  cannibals.  None  knew 
whence  they  came,  or  in  what  manner 
they  arrived  at  the  island.  Their 
habitation  was  in  the  mountains, 
whence  they  used  to  issue  and  kill 
.many  of  the  natives,  whom  they  after- 
ward devoured,  and  by  that  means 
prevented  the  progress  of  population. 
Two  brothers,  determined  to  rid  their 
country  of  such  a  formidable  enemy, 
used  a  stratagem  for  their  destruction 
with  success.  These  still  lived  farther 


220 

upward  than  the  "Taheeai,"  and  in 
such  a  situation  that  they  could  speak 
with  them  without  greatly  hazarding 
their  own  safety.  They  invited  them 
to  accept  of  an  entertainment  that 
should  be  provided  for  them,  to  which 
these  readily  consented.  The  brothers 
then  taking  some  stones,  heated  them 
in  a  fire,  and  thrusting  them  into 
pieces  of  "  mahee,"  desired  one  of  the 
' '  Taheeai  "  to  open  his  mouth.  On 
which  one  of  these  pieces  was  dropped 
in,  and  some  water  poured  down, 
which  made  a  boiling  or  hissing  noise 
in  quenching  the  stone,  and  killed 
him.  They  entreated  the  other  to  do 
the  same,  but  he  declined  it,  repre- 
senting the  consequences  of  his  com- 
panion's eating.  However,  they  as- 
sured him  that  the  food  was  excellent, 
and  its  effects  only  temporary,  for 
that  the  other  would  soon  recover. 
His  credulity  was  such  that  he  swal- 
lowed the  bait,  and  shared  the  fate  of 
the  first.  The  natives  then  cut  them 
in  pieces,  which  they  buried ;  and 
conferred  the  government  of  the 
island  on  the  brothers  as  a  reward  for 
delivering  them  from  such  monsters. 
Their  residence  was  in  the  district 
called  ~V^7'hapaeenoo,  and  to  this  day 
there  remains  a  bread-fruit  tree  once 
the  property  of  the  ' '  Taheeai. "  They 
had  also  a  woman  who  lived  with 
them,  and  had  two  teeth  of  a  prodigi- 
ous size.  After  they  were  killed,  she 
lived  at  the  Island  Otaha,  and  when 
dead  was  ranked  amongst  their  deities. 
She  did  not  eat  human  flesh  as  the 
men,  but,  from  the  size  of  her  teeth, 
the  natives  still  call  any  animal  that 
has  a  fierce  appearance,  or  is  repre- 
sented with  large  tusks,  "Taheeai." 

From  some  circumstances,  I  have 
been  led  to  think  that  the  natives  of 
these  isles  were  formerly  cannibals. 
Upon  asking  Omai  he  denied  it 
stoutly,  yet  mentioned  a  fact  within 
his  own  knowledge  which  almost 
confirms  such  an  opinion.  When  the 
people  of  Bolabola  one  time  defeated 
those  of  Huaheine,  a  great  number  of 
his  kinsmen  were  slain.  But  one  of 
his  relations  had  afterwards  an  oppor- 
tunity of  revenging  himself,  when  the 
Bolabola  men  were  worsted  in  their 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.       [VoT.III.B.III.CH.  IX. 


turn  ;  and,  cutting  a^  piece  out  of  the 
thigh  of  one  of  his  enemies,  he  broiled 
and  ate  it.  I  have  also  frequently 
considered  the  offering  of  the  person's 
eye  who  is  sacrificed,  to  the  chief,  as 
a  vestige  of  a  custom  which  once  really 
existed  to  a  greater  extent,  and  is  still 
commemorated  by  this  emblematical 
ceremony.  .  .  . 

Besides  the  cluster  of  high  islands 
from  Mataia  to  Mourooa  inclusive, 
the  people  of  Otaheite  are  acquainted 
with  a  low  uninhabited  island,  which 
they  name  Mopeeha,  and  seems  to  bo 
Howe's  Island,  laid  down  to  the  west- 
ward of  Mourooa  in  our  late  charts  of 
this  ocean.  To  this  the  inhabitants 
of  the  most  leeward  islands  sometimes 
go.  There  are  also  several  low  islands 
to  the  north-eastward  of  Otaheite, 
which  they  have  sometimes  visited, 
but  not  constantly,  and  are  said  to  be 
only  at  the  distance  of  two  days'  sail 
with  a  fair  wind.  They  were  thus 
named  to  me:  Mataeeva,  Oanaa,  Ta- 
boohoe,  Awehee,  Kaoora,  Orootooa, 
Otavaoo  (where  are  large  pearls).  The 
inhabitants  of  these  isles  come  more 
frequently  to  Otaheite  and  the  other 
neighbouring  high  islands,  from  whose 
natives  they  differ  in  being  of  a 
darker  colour,  with  a  fiercer  aspect, 
and  differently  punctured.  I  was  in- 
formed that  at  Mataeeva,  and  others 
of  them,  it  is  a  custom  for  the  men  <x> 
give  their  daughters  to  strangers  who 
arrive  amongst  them  ;  but  the  pairs 
must  be  five  nights  lying  near  each 
other  without  presuming  to  proceed 
further.  On  the  sixth  evening  the 
father  of  the  young  woman  treats  his 
guest  with  food,  and  informs  his 
daughter  that  she  must  that  night 
receive  him  as  her  husband.  Tho 
stranger,  however,  must  not  offer  to 
express  the  least  dislike,  though  the 
bed-fellow  allotted  to  him  should  be 
ever  so  disagreeable ;  for  this  is  con- 
sidered as  an  unpardonable  affront, 
and  is  punished  with  death.  Forty 
men  of  Bolabola  who,  incited  by  curi- 
osity, had  roamed  as  far  as  Mataeeva 
in  a  canoe,  were  treated  in  this  man- 
ner, one  of  them  having  incautiously 
mentioned  his  dislike  of  the  woman 
who  fell  to  his  lot  in  the  hearing  of  a 


DEC.  1777.]    PROGRESS  AFTER  LEAVING  SOCIETY  ISLANDS.     221 


boy,  who  informed  her  father.  In 
consequence  of  this,  the  Mataeevans 
fell  upon  them ;  but  these  warlike 
people  killed  three  times  their  own 
number,  though  with  the  loss  of  all 
their  party,  except  five.  These  hid 
themselves  in  the  woods  and  took  an 
opportunity,  when  the  others  were 
burying  their  dead,  to  enter  some 
houses,  where,  having  provided  them- 
selves with  victuals  and  water,  they 
carried  them  on  board  a  canoe,  in 
which  they  made  their  escape ;  and 
after  passing  Mataia,  at  which  they 
would  not  touch,  at  last  arrived  safe 
at  Eimeo.  The  Bolabolans,  however, 
were  sensible  enough  that  their  tra- 
vellers had  been  to  blame ;  for  a 
canoe  from  Mataeeva  arriving  some- 
time after  at  Bolabola,  so  far  were 
they  from  retaliating  upon  them  for 
the  death  of  their  countrymen  that 
they  acknowledged  that  they  had  de- 
served their  fate,  and  treated  their 
visitors  kindly. 

These  low  isles  are,  doubtless,  the 
farthest  navigation  whicli  those  of 
Otaheite  and  the  Society  Islands  per- 
form at  present.  It  seems  to  be  a 
groundless  supposition  made  by  M. 
de  Bougainville  that  they  made  voy- 
ages of  the  prodigious  extent1  he 
mentions,  for  I  found  that  it  is  reck- 
oned a  sort  of  prodigy  that  a  canoe 
once  driven  by  a  storm  from  Otaheite 
should  have  fallen  in  with  Mopeeha, 
or  Howe's  Island,  though  so  near  and 
directly  to  leeward.  The  knowledge 
they  have  of  other  distant  islands  is 
no  doubt  traditional,  and  has  been 
communicated  to  them  by  the  natives 
of  those  islands  driven  accidentally 
upon  their  coasts,  who,  besides  giving 
them,  the  names,  could  easily  inform 
them  of  the  direction  in  which  the 
places  lie  from  whence  they  came, 
and  of  the  number  of  days  they  had 
been  upon  the  sea.  In  this  manner 
it  may  be  supposed  that  the  natives 
of  Wateeoo  have  increased  their  cata- 
logue by  the  addition  of  Otaheite  and 


1  In  Bougainville's  "  Voyage  autour 
du  Monde"  we  are  told  that  these 
people  sometimes  navigate  to  the  dis- 
tance of  more  than  300  leagues. 


its  neighbouring  isles  from  the  people 
we  met  with  there,  and  also  of  the 
other  islands  these  had  heard  of. 


CHAPTER  X. 

AFTER  leaving  Bolabola  I  steered  to 
the  northward,  close  hauled,  with  the 
wind  between  NE.  and  E.  Though 
seventeen  months  had  now  elapsed 
since  our  departure  from  England, 
during  which  we  had  not  upon  the 
whole  been  unprofitably  employed,  I 
was  sensible  that,  with  regard  to  the 
principal  object  of  my  instructions, 
our  voyage  was  at  this  time  only  be- 
ginning, and  therefore  my  attention 
to  every  circumstance  that  might 
contribute  toward  our  safety  and  our 
ultimate  success  was  now  to  be  called 
forth  anew.  With  this  view  I  had 
examined  into  the  state  of  our  pro- 
visions at  the  last  islands  ;  and  as 
soon  as  I  had  left  them  and  got  be- 
yond the  extent  of  my  former  dis- 
coveries, I  ordered  a  survey  to  be 
taken  of  all  the  boatswain's  and  car- 
penter's stores  that  were  in  the  ships, 
that  I  might  be  fully  informed  of 
the  quantity,  state,  and  condition  of 
every  article,  and  by  that  means 
know  how  to  use  them  to  the  greatest 
advantage. 

Before  I  sailed  from  the  Society 
Islands,  I  lost  no  opportunity  of  in- 
quiring of  the  inhabitants  if  there 
were  any  islands  in  a  north  or  north- 
west direction  from  them,  but  I  did 
not  find  that  they  knew  of  any.  Nor 
did  we  meet  with  anything  that  in- 
dicated the  vicinity  of  land  till  we 
came  to  about  the  Latitude  of  8°  S., 
where  we  began  to  see  birds,  such  as 
boobies,  tropic  and  man-of-war  birds, 
tern,  and  some  other  sorts.  At  this 
time  our  longitude  was  205°  E.  Men- 
dana,  in  his  first  voyage  in  1568, 
discovered  an  island  which  he  named 
Isla  de  Jesus  in  Latitude  6"  45'  S., 
and  1450  leagues  from  Callao,  which 
is  200°  E.  Longitude  from  Greenwich. 
We  crossed  this  latitiido  near  100 
leagues  to  the  eastward  of  this  longi- 
tude, and  saw  there  many  of  the 


222 

above-mentioned  birds,  which  are  sel- 
dom known  to  go  very  far  from  land. 
In  the  night  between  the  22d  and 
23d  we  crossed  the  Line,  in  the 
Longitude  of  203°  15'  E. 

On  the  24th,  about  half-an-hour 
after  daybreak,  land  was  discovered, 
bearing  NE.  by  E.  half  E.  Upon  a 
nearer  approach  it  was  found  to  be 
one  of  those  low  islands  so  common 
in  this  ocean,  that  is,  a  narrow  bank 
of  land  enclosing  the  sea  within.  A 
few  cocoa-nut  trees  were  seen  in  two 
or  three  places,  but  in  general  the 
land  had  a  very  barren  appearance. 
At  noon  it  extended  from  NE.  by  E. 
to  S.  by  E.  half  E.,  about  four  miles 
distant.  The  wind  was  at  ESE.,  so 
that  we  were  under  a  necessity  of 
making  a  few  boards  to  get  up  to  the 
lee  or  W.  side,  where  we  found  from 
forty  to  twenty  and  fourteen  fathoms 
water,  over  a  bottom  of  fine  sand — 
the  least  depth  about  half-a-mile  from 
the  breakers,  and  the  greatest  about 
one  mile.  The  meeting  with  sound- 
ings determined  me  to  anchor,  with 
a  view  to  try  to  get  some  turtle ;  for 
the  island  seemed  to  be  a  likely  place 
to  meet  with  them,  and  to  be  without 
inhabitants.  Accordingly  we  dropped 
anchor  in  thirty  fathoms,  and  then 
a  boat  was  despatched  to  examine 
whether  it  was  practicable  to  land,  of 
which  I  had  some  doubt,  as  the  sea 
broke  in  a  dreadful  surf  all  along  the 
shore.  When  the  boat  returned,  the 
officer  whom  I  had  entrusted  with 
this  examination  reported  to  me  that 
he  could  see  no  place  where  a  boat 
could  land,  but  that  there  was  great 
abundance  of  fish  in  the  shoal  water 
without  the  breakers. 

In  the  morning  of  the  27th  the 
pinnace  and  cutter,  under  the  com- 
mand of  Mr  King,  were  sent  to  the 
south-east  part  of  the  island,  within 
the  lagoon,  and  the  small  cutter  to 
the  northward,  where  I  had  been  the 
day  before — both  parties  being  ordered 
upon  the  same  service,  to  catch  turtle. 
Captain  Clerke  having  had  some  of 
his  people  on  shore  all  night,  they 
had  been  so  fortunate  as  to  turn  be- 
tween forty  and  fifty  on  the  sand, 
which  were  brought  on  board  with 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.        (TOY.  III.  B.  III.  CH.  X. 


all  expedition  this  day;  and  in  the 
afternoon  the  party  I  had  sent  north- 
ward returned  with  six.  They  were 
sent  back  again,  and  remained  there 
till  we  left  the  island,  having  in 
general  pretty  good  success.  On  the 
28th  I  landed,  in  company  with  Mr 
Bayly,  on  the  island  which  lies  be- 
tween the  two  channels  into  the 
lagoon,  to  prepare  the  telescopes  for 
observing  the  approaching  eclipse  of 
the  sun,  which  was  one  great  induce- 
ment to  my  anchoring  here.  About 
noon  Mr  King  returned  with  one  boat 
and  eight  turtles,  leaving  seven  be- 
hind to  be  brought  by  the  other  boat, 
whose  people  were  employed  in  catch- 
ing more  ;  and  in  the  evening  the 
same  boat  was  sent  with  water  and 
provisions  for  them.  Mr  Williamson 
now  went  to  superintend  this  duty  in 
the  room  of  Mr  King,  who  remained 
on  board  to  attend  the  observation  of 
the  eclipse.  The  next  day  Mr  Wil- 
liamson despatched  the  two  boats 
back  to  the  ship  laden  with  turtle. 
At  the  same  time  he  sent  me  a  mes- 
sage desiring  that  the  boats  might  be 
ordered  round  by  sea,  as  he  had  found 
a  landing-place  on  the  south-east  side 
of  the  island,  where  most  of  the  turtle 
were  caught ;  so  that  by  sending  the 
boats  thither  the  trouble  would  be 
saved  of  carrying  them  over  the  land 
to  the  inside  of  the"  lagoon,  as  had 
been  hitherto  done.  The  boats  were 
accordingly  despatched  to  the  place 
which  he  pointed  out. 

On  the  morning  of  the  30th,  the 
day  when  the  eclipse  was  to  happen, 
Mr  King,  Mr  Bayly,  and  myself  went 
ashore  on  the  small  island  above 
mentioned,  to  attend  the  observation. 
The  sky  was  overcast  till  past  9 
o'clock,  when  the  clouds  about  the 
sun  dispersed  long  enough  to  take  its 
altitude,  to  rectify  the  time  by  the 
watch  we  made  use  of.  After  this  it 
was  again  obscured  till  about  thirty 
minutes  past  nine,  and  then  we  found 
that  the  eclipse  was  begun.  We  now 
fixed  the  micrometers  to  the  telescopes, 
and  observed  or  measured  the  un- 
eclipsed  part  of  the  sun's  disc.  At 
these  observations  I  continued  about 
three-quarters  of  an  hour  before  the 


JAN.  1778.]       AN  ECLIPSE  OF  THE  SUN  OBSERVED. 


end,  when  I  left  off,  being  in  fact 
unable  to  continue  them  longer  on 
account  of  the  great  heat  of  the  sun, 
increased  by  the  reflection  from  the 
sand.  The  sun  was  clouded  at  times ; 
but  it  was  clear  when  the  eclipse 
ended,  the  time  of  which  was  observed 
as  follows  : 

Ho.  Min.    Sec. 

By  Mr  Bayly,  at  .  0  26  3 
Mr  King,  .  0  26  1 
Myself,  .  0  25  37 

Apparent  time  p.  M. 

Mr  Bayly  and  I  observed  with  the 
large  achromatic  telescopes,  and  Mr 
King  with  a  reflector.  As  Mr  Bayly's 
telescope  and  mine  were  of  the  same 
magnifying  power,  I  ought  not  to 
have  differed  so  much  from  him  as  I 
did.  Perhaps  it  was  in  part,  if  not 
wholly,  owing  to  a  protuberance  in 
the  moon  which  escaped  my  notice, 
but  was  seen  by  both  the  other  gentle- 
men. .  .  . 

Having  some  cocoa-nuts  and  yams 
on  board  in  a  state  of  vegetation,  I 
ordered  them  to  be  planted  on  the 
little  island  where  we  had  observed 
the  eclipse,  and  some  melon-seeds 
were  sown  in  another  place.  I  also 
left  on  the  little  island  a  bottle  con- 
taining this  inscription  : 

"  Georgius  Tertius  Rex.  31  Decembris 

1777. 

AT>        (  Resolution,  Jac.  Cook,  Pr. 
*  {  Discovery,  Car.  Clerke,  Pr." 

On  the  1st  of  January  1778,  I  sent 
boats  to  bring  on  board  all  our  parties 
from  the  land,  and  the  turtle  they 
had  caught.  Before  this  was  com- 
pleted it  was  late  in  the  afternoon,  so 
that  I  did  not  think  proper  to  sail 
till  next  morning.  "We  got  at  this 
island,  to  both  ships,  about  300  turtle, 
weighing  one  with  another  about  90 
or  100  pounds.  They  were  all  of  the 
green  kind,  and  perhaps  as  good  as 
any  in  the  world.  We  also  caught 
with  hook  and  line  as  much  fish  as 
we  could  consume  during  our  stay. 
They  consisted  principally  of  cavallies 
of  different  sizes,  large  and  small 
snappers,  and  a  few  of  two  sorts  of 
rock-fish,  one  with  numerous  spots 


223 

of  blue,  and  the  other  with  whitish 
streaks  scattered  about.  .  .  . 

As  we  kept  our  Christmas  here,  I 
called  this  discovery  Christmas  Island. 
I  judge  it  to  be  about  fifteen  or  twenty 
leagues  in  circumference.1  It  seemed 
to  be  of  a  semicircular  form,  or  like 
the  moon  in  the  last  quarter,  the 
two  horns  being  the  north  and  south 
points. 

Christmas  Island,  like  most  others 
in  this  ocean,  is  bounded  by  a  reef  of 
coral  rocks,  which  extends  but  a  little 
way  from  the  shore.  Farther  out 
than  this  reef,  on  the  west  side,  is  a 
bank  of  sand  extending  a  mile  into 
the  sea.  On  this  bank  is  good  an- 
chorage in  any  depth  between  eighteen 
and  thirty  fathoms.  In  less  than  the 
first-mentioned  depth  the  reef  would 
be  too  near;  and  in  more  than  the 
last  the  edge  of  the  bank  would  not 
be  at  a  sufficient  distance.  During 
the  time  we  lay  here,  the  wind  blew 
constantly  a  fresh  gale  at  E.  or  E.  by 
S.,  except  one  or  two  days.  We  had 
always  a  great  swell  from  the  north- 
ward, which  broke  upon  the  reef,  in 
a  prodigious  surf.  We  had  found 
this  swell  before  we  came  to  the 
island;  and  it  continued  for  some 
days  after  we  left  it. 


CHAPTER  XL 

ON  the  2d  of  January  at  daybreak  we 
weighed  anchor  and  resumed  our 
course  to  theN.,  having  fine  weather. 
We  continued  to  see  birds  every  day, 
of  the  sorts  last  mentioned,  some- 
times in  greater  numbers  than  others, 
and  between  the  latitude  of  10°  and 
11°  we  saw  several  turtle.  All  these 
are  looked  upon  as  signs  of  the 
vicinity  of  land.  However,  we  dis- 
covered none  till  daybreak  in  the 
morning  of  the  18th,  when  an  island 
made  its  appearance  bearing  NE.  by 
E.,  and  soon  after  we  saw  more  land 
bearing  N.  and  entirely  detached 


1  It  lies,  according  to  Cook's  ob- 
servations, in  1°  59'  N.  Latitude,  and 
202°  30'  E.  Longitude. 


224 

from  the  former.  Both  had  the  ap- 
pearance of  being  high  land.  "We 
had  now  light  airs  and  calms  by 
turns ;  so  that  at  sunset  we  were  not 
less  than  nine  or  ten  leagues  from  the 
nearest  land. 

On  the  19th  at  sunrise  the  island 
first  seen  bore  E.  several  leagues  dis- 
tant. This  being  directly  to  wind- 
ward, which  prevented  our  getting 
near  it,  I  stood  for  the  other,  which 
we  could  reach ;  and  not  long  after 
discovered  a  third  island  in  the  direc- 
tion of  WNW.,  as  far  distant  as  land 
could  be  seen.  We  had  now  a  fine 
breeze  at  E.  by  N. ;  and  I  steered  for 
the  east  end  of  the  second  island. 
At  this  time  we  were  -in  some  doubt 
whether  or  no  the  land  before  us  was 
inhabited;  but  this  doubt  was  soon 
cleared  up  by  seeing  some  canoes 
coming  oft'  from  the  shore  toward  the 


ships.  I  immediately  brought  to,  to 
give  them  time  to  join  us.  They  had 
from  three  to  six  men  each,  and  on 
their  approach  we  were  agreeably  sur- 
prised to  find  that  they  spoke  the 
language  of  Otaheite  and  of  the  other 
islands  we  had  lately  visited.  It  re- 
quired but  very  little  address  to  get 
them  to  come  alongside ;  but  no  en- 
treaties could  prevail  upon  any  of 
them  to  come  on  board.  I  tied  some 
brass  medals  to  a  rope  and  gave  them 
to  those  in  one  of  the  canoes,  who  in 
return  tied  some  small  mackerel  to 
the  rope  as  an  equivalent.  This  was 
repeated,  and  some  small  nails  or  bits 
of  iron,  which  they  valued  more  than 
any  other  article,  were  given  them. 
For  these  they  exchanged  more  fish, 
and  a  sweet  potato ;  a  sure  sign  that 
they  had  some  notion  of  bartering,  or 
at  least  of  returning  one  present  for 
another.  They  had  nothing  else  in 
their  canoes  except  some  large  gourd 
shells,  and  a  kind  of  fishing-net;  but 
one  of  them  offered  for  sale  the  piece 
of  stuff  that  he  wore  round  his  waist 
after  the  manner  of  the  other  islands. 
These  people  were  of  a  brown  colour, 
and  though  of  the  common  size,  were 
stoutly  made.  There  was  little  differ- 
ence in  the  cast  of  their  colour,  but  a 
Considerable  variation  in  their  features; 
/ome  of  their  visages  not  being  very 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.  [VoY.  III.  B.  III.  CH.  XL 
unlike  those  of  Europeans.  The  hair 
of  most  of  them  was  cropped  pretty 
short ;  others  had  it  flowing  loose  ; 
and  with  &  few  it  was  tied  in  a  bunch 
on  the  crown  of  the  head.  In  all  it 
seemed  to  be  naturally  Hack;  but 
most  of  them  had  stained  it,  as  is  the 
practice  of  the  Friendly  Islanders, 
with  some  stuff  which  gave  it  a  brown 
or  burnt  colour.  In  general  they 
wore  their  beards.  They  had  no  or- 
naments about  their  persons,  nor  did 
we  observe  that  their  ears  were  per- 
forated ;  but  some  were  punctured  on 
the  hands,  or  near  the  groin,  though 
in  a  small  degree;  and  the  bits  of 
cloth  which  they  wore  were  curiously 
stained  with  red,  black,  and  white 
colours.  They  seemed  very  mild, 
and  had  no  arms  of  any  kind,  if  we 
except  some  small  stones  which  they 
had  evidently  brought  for  their  own 


defence ;  and  these  they  threw  over- 
board when  they  found  that  they  were 
not  wanted.  [Finding  no  proper 
anchoring-place  at  the  eastern  extreme 
of  the  island,  they  bore  away  to 
the  middle  of  the  NW.  side,  where 
they  stood  off  in  five  fathoms,  over 
a  sandy  bottom.  The  natives  who 
afterwards  came  on  board  showed 
great  ignorance  of  everything  Euro- 
pean, and  proved  themselves  to  be 
great  thieves.] 

While  the  boats  were  occupied  in 
examining  the  coast,  we  stood  on  and 
off  with  the  ships,  waiting  for  their 
return.  About  noon  Mr  William- 
son came  back  and  reported  that  he 
had  seen  a  large  pond  behind  a  beach 
near  one  of  the  villages,  which  the 
natives  told  him  contained  fresh 
water,  and  that  there  was  anchoring- 
ground  before  it.  He  also  reported 
that  he  had  attempted  to  laud  in 
another  place,  but  was  prevented  by 
the  natives,  who,  coming  down  io  the 
boats  in  great  numbers,  attempted  to 
take  away  the  oars,  muskets,  and  in 
short  everything  that  they  could  lay 
hold  of,  and  pressed  so  thick  upon 
him  that  he  was  obliged  to  fire,  by 
which  one  man  was  killed.  But  this 
unhappy  circumstance  I  did  not  know 
till  after  we  had  left  the  island,  so 
that  all  my  measures  were  directed  aa 


JAN.  1778.] 

if  nothing  of  the  kind  had  happened. 
Mr  Williamson  told  me  that  after  the 
man  fell,  his  countrymen  took  him  up, 
carried  him  off,  and  then  retired  from 
the  boat ;  but  still  they  made  signals 
for  our  people  to  land,  which  he  de- 
clined. It  did  not  appear  to  Mr 
Williamson  that  the  natives  had  any 


design  to  kill  or  even  to  hurt  any  of 
his  party;  but  they  seemed  excited 
by  mere  curiosity,  to  get  from  them 
what  they  had,  being  at  the  same 
time  ready  to  give  in  return  anything 
of  their  own.  After  the  boats  were 
on  board,  I  despatched  one  of  them 
to  lie  in  the  best  anchoring-ground  ; 
and  as  soon  as  she  had  got  to  this 
station,  I  bore  down  with  the  ships, 
and  anchored  in  twenty-five  fathoms 
•water.  The  Discovery  anchored  to 
the  eastward  of  us,  farther  from  the 
land.  The  ships  being  thus  stationed 
between  3  and  4  o'clock,  I  went  ashore 
with  three  armed  boats  and  twelve 
marines,  to  examine  the  water,  and 
to  try  the  disposition  of  the  inhabit- 
ants, several  hundreds  of  whom  were 
assembled  on  a  sandy  beach  before 
the  village;  behind  it  was  a  narrow 
valley,  the  bottom  of  which  was  occu- 
pied by  the  piece  of  water. 

The  very  instant  I  leaped  on  shore, 
the  collected  body  of  the  natives  all 
fell  flat  upon  their  faces,  and  remained 
in  that  very  humble  posture  till  by 
expressive  signs  I  prevailed  upon  them 
to  rise.  They  then  brought  a  great 
many  small  pigs,  which  they  pre- 
sented to  me,  with  plantain -trees, 
using  much  the  same  ceremonies  that 
we  had  seen  practised  on  such  occa- 
sions at  the  Society  and  other  islands, 
and  a  long  prayer  being  spoken  by  a 
single  person,  in  which  others  of  the 
assembly  sometimes  joined.  I  ex- 
pressed my  acceptance  of  their  prof- 
fered friendship,  by  giving  them  in 
return  such  presents  as  I  had  brought 
with  me  from  the  ship  for  that  pur- 
pose. When  this  introductory  busi- 
ness was  finished,  I  stationed  a  guard 
upon  the  beach,  and  got  some  of  the 
natives  to  conduct  me  to  the  water; 
which  proved  to  be  very  good,  and  in 
a  proper  situation  for  our  purpose. 
It  was  so  considerable  that  it  may  be 


A  WATERING-PLACE  FOUND.  225 

called  a  lake,  and  it  extended  farther 
up  the  country  than  we  could  see. 
Having  satisfied  myself  about  this 
very  essential  point,  and  about  the 
peaceable  disposition  of  the  natives, 
I  returned  on  board,  and  then  gave 
orders  that  everything  should  be  in 
readiness  for  landing  and  filling  our 


water-casks  in  the  morning;  when  I 
went  ashore  with  the  people  employed 
in  that  service,  having  a  party  of 
marines  with  us  for  a  guard,  who 
were  stationed  on  the  beach. 

As  soon  as  we  landed,  a  trade  was 
set  on  foot  for  hogs  and  potatoes, 
which  the  people  of  the  island  gave 
us  in  exchange  for  nails  and  pieces 
of  iron  formed  into  something  like 
chisels.  We  met  with  no  obstruction 
in  watering ;  on  the  contrary,  the 
natives  assisted  our  men  in  rolling 
the  casks  to  and  from  the  pool,  and 
readily  performed  whatever  we  requir- 
ed. Everything  thus  going  on  to  my 
satisfaction,  and  considering  my  pre- 
sence on  the  spot  unnecessary,  I  left 
the  command  to  Mr  Williamson,  who 
had  landed  with  me,  and  made  an 
excursion  into  the  country  up  the 
valley,  accompanied  by  Mr  Anderson 
and  Mr  Webber ;  the  former  of  whom 
was  as  well  qualified  to  describe  with 
the  pen  as  the  latter  was  to  represent 
with  his  pencil  everything  we  might 
meet  with  worthy  of  observation.  A 
numerous  train  of  natives  followed 
us  ;  and  one  of  them,  whom  I  had 
distinguished  for  his  activity  in  keep- 
ing the  rest  in  order,  I  made  choice 
of  as  our  guided  This  man  from  time 
to  time  proclaimed  our  approach ;  and 
every  one  whom  we  met  fell  prostrate 
upon  the  ground  and  remained  in 
that  position  till  we  had  passed.  This, 
as  I  afterward  understood,  is  the  mode 
of  paying  their  respect  to  their  own 
great  chiefs.  As  we  ranged  down  the 
coast  from  the  east  in  the  ships,  we 
had  observed  at  every  village  one  or 
more  elevated  white  objects,  like  pyra- 
mids or  rather  obelisks  ;  and  one  of 
these,  which  I  guessed  to  be  at  least 
fifty  feet  high,  was  very  conspicuous 
from  the  ship's  anchoring  station,  and 
seemed  to  be  at  no  great  distance  up 
this  valley.  To  have  a  nearer  inspeo 


226 

tion  of  it  was  the -principal  object  of 
my  walk.  Our  guide  perfectly  under- 
stood that  we  wished  to  be  conducted 
to  it ;  but  it  happened  to  be  so  placed 
that  we  could  not  get  at  it,  being 
separated  from  us  by  the  pool  of  water. 
However,  there  being  another  of  the 
same  kind  within  our  reach,  about 
half-a-mile  off  upon  our  side  of  the 
valley,  we  set  out  to  visit  that.  The 
moment  we  got  to  it  we  saw  that 
it  stood  in  a  burying-ground,  or 
"morai,"  the  resemblance  of  which  in 
many  respects  to  those  we  were  so  well 
acquainted  with  at  other  islands  in 
this  ocean,  and  particularly  Otaheite, 
could  not  but  strike  us  ;  and  we  also 
soon  found  that  the  several  parts  that 
compose  it  were  called  by  the  same 
names.  It  was  an  oblong  space,  of 
considerable  extent,  surrounded  by  a 
wall  of  stone  about  four  feet  high. 
The  space  enclosed  was  loosely  paved 
with  smaller  stones  ;  and  at  one  end 
of  it  stood  what  I  call  the  pyramid, 
but  in  the  language  of  the  island  is 
named  "henananoo  ;  "  which  appear- 
ed evidently  to  be  an  exact  model  of 
the  larger  one  observed  by  us  from  the 
ships.  It  was  about  four  feet  square 
at  the  base,  and  about  twenty  feet 
high.  The  four  sides  were  composed 
of  small  poles  interwoven  with  twigs 
and  branches,  thus  forming  an  in- 
different wicker-work,  hollow  or  open 
within  from  bottom  to  top.  It  seemed 
to  be  rather  in  a  ruinous  state  ;  but 
there  were  sufficient  remaining  marks 
to  show  that  it  had  originally  been 
covered  with  a  thin,  light,  grey  cloth, 
which  these  people,  it  should  seem, 
consecrate  to  religious  purposes  ;  as 
we  could  see  a  good  deal  of  it  hanging 
in  different  parts  of  the  "morai,"  and 
some  of  it  had  been  forced  upon  me 
when  I  first  landed.  On  each  side 
of  the  pyramid  were  long  pieces  of 
wicker-work  called  "hereanee,"  in 
the  same  ruinous  condition  ;  with  two 
slender  poles,  inclining  to  each  other, 
at  one  corner,  where  some  plantains 
were  laid  upon  a  board  fixed  at  the 
height  of  five  or  six  feet.  This  they 
called  "herairemy,"  and  informed  us 
that  the  fruit  was  an  offering  to  their 
god,  which  makes  it  agree  exactly 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.  [VoY.ni.B.III.CH.XI. 
with  the  "whatta"  of  Otaheite.  Be- 
fore the  "  henananoo  "  were  a  few 


ike  human  figures,  which,  with  a 
stone  near  two  feet  high,  covered  with 
piecesof  cloth  called  "hoho,"  andcon- 
secrated  to  "  Tongarooa,"  who  is  the 
god  of  these  people,  still  more  and 
more  reminded  us  of  what  we  used  to 
meet  with  in  the  "rnorais"  of  the 
islands  we  had  lately  left.  Adjoin- 
ing to  these,  on  the  outside  of  the 
"morai,"  was  a  small  shed  no  bigger 
than  a  dog-kennel,  which  they  called 
"  hareepahoo ; "  and  before  it  was  a 
grave,  where,  as  we  were  told,  the 
remains  of  a  woman  lay. 

On  the  farther  side  of  the  area  of 
the  "morai"  stood  a  house  or  shed 
about  forty  feet  long,  ten  broad  in 
the  middle,  each  end  being  narrower, 
and  about  ten  feet  high.  This,  which 
though  much  longer  was  lower  than 
their  _  common  dwelling-places,  we 
were  informed  was  called  "hemanaa. " 
The  entrance  into  it  was  at  the  middle 
of  the  side  which  was  in  the  "morai." 
On  the  farther  side  of  this  house, 
opposite  the  entrance,  stood  two  wood- 
en images,  cut  out  of  one  piece,  with 
pedestals,  in  all  about  three  feet  high; 
neither  very  indifferently  designed 
nor  executed.  These  were  said  to  be 
"Eatooa  no  Veheina,"  or  representa- 
tions of  goddesses.  On  the  head  of 
one  of  them  was  a  carved  helmet  not 
unlike  those  worn  by  the  ancient 
warriors,  and  on  that  of  the  other  a 
cylindrical  cap,  resembling  the  head- 
dress at  Otaheite,  called  "tomou;" 
and  both  of  them  had  pieces  of  cloth 
tied  about  the  loins,  and  hanging  a 
considerable  way  down.  At  the  side 
of  each  was  also  a  piece  of  carved 
wood,  with  bits  of  the  cloth  hung  on 
them  in  the  same  manner  ;  and  be- 
tween or  before  the  pedestals  lay  a 
quantity  of  fern  in  a  heap.  It  was 
obvious  that  this  had  been  deposited 
there  piece  by  piece  and  at  different 
times ;  for  there  was  of  it  in  all  states, 
from  what  was  quite  decayed  to  what 
was  still  fresh  and  green. 

In  the  middle  of  the  house,  and 
before  the  two  images,  was  an  oblong 
space  enclosed  byalow  edging  of  stone. 


JAN.  1778.]    BURIAL-PLACE  OF  THE  HUMAN  SACRIFICES.        227 


and  covered  with  shreds  of  the  cloth 
so  often  mentioned.  This  on  inquiry 
we  found  was  the  grave  of  seven  chiefs, 
whose  names  were  enumerated,  and 
the  place  was  called  Heneene.  "We 
had  met  already  with  so  many  strik- 
ing instances  of  resemblance  between 
the  burying-place  we  were  now  visiting 
and  those  of  islands  we  had  lately 
come  from  in  the  South  Pacific,  that 
we  had  little  doubt  in  our  minds  that 
the  resemblance  existed  also  in  the 
ceremonies  practised  here,  and  partic- 
ularly in  the  horrid  one  of  offering 
human  sacrifices.  Our  suspicions  were 
too  soon  confirmed  by  direct  evidence. 
For  on  coming  out  of  the  house,  just 
on  one  side  of  the  entrance,  we  saw  a 
small  square  place,  and  another  still 
less  near  it ;  and  on  asking  what  these 
were,  our  guide  immediately  informed 
us  that  in  the  one  was  buriedaman  who 
had  been  sacrificed;  a  "Taata  ("Tan- 
ata"  or  "  Tangata, "  in  this  country) 
taboo"  ("tafoo,"  as  here  pronounced) ; 
and  in  the  other  a  hog  which  had  also 
been  made  an  offering  to  the  divinity. 
At  a  little  distance  from  these,  near 
the  middle  of  the  "morai, "  were  three 
more  of  these  square  enclosed  places, 
with  two  pieces  Of  carved  wood  at  each, 
and  upon  them  a  heap  of  fern.  These 
we  were  told  were  the  graves  of  three 
chiefs ;  and  before  them  was  an  oblong 
enclosed  space  to  which  our  conductor 
also  gave  the  name  of  "Tangata- 
taboo  ; "  telling  us,  so  explicitly  that 
we  could  not  mistake  his  meaning, 
that  three  human  sacrifices  had  been 
buried  there,  that  is,  one  at  the  funeral 
of  each  chief.  It  was  with  most  sin- 
cere concern  that  I  could  trace  on  such 
undoubted  evidence  the  prevalence  of 
these  bloody  rites  throughout  this  im- 
mense ocean,  amongst  people  disjoined 
by  such  a  distance,  and  even  ignorant 
of  each  other's  existence,  though  so 
strongly  marked  as  originally  of  the 
same  nation.  It  was  no  small  addi- 
tion to  this  concern  to  reflect  that 
every  appearance  led  us  to  believe  the 
barbarous  practice  was  very  general 
here.  The  island  seemed  to  abound 
with  such  places  of  sacrifice  as  this 
which  we  were  now  visiting,  and  which 
appeared  to  be  one  of  the  most  incon- 


siderable of  them  ;  being  far  less  con- 
spicuous than  several  others  which  wa 
had  seen  as  we  sailed  along  the  coast, 
and  particularly  than  that  on  the  op- 
posite side  of  the  water  in  this  valley; 
the  white  "  henananao,"  or  pyramid, 
of  which,  we  were  now  almost  sure, 
derived  its  colour  only  from  pieces  of 
the  consecrated  cloth  laid  over  it.  In 
several  parts  within  the  enclosure  of 
thisburying-ground  were  planted  trees 
of  the  Oordia  sebestina,  some  of  the 
Morinda  citrifolia,  and  several  plants 
of  the  "etee,"  or  "jejee,"  of  Tonga- 
taboo,  with  the  leaves  of  which  the 
"hemanaa  was  thatched  ;"  and  as  I 
observed  that  this  plant  was  not  made 
use  of  in  thatching  their  dwelling- 
houses,  probably  it  is  reserved  entirely 
for  religious  purposes. 

Our  road  to  and  from  the  "morai " 
which  I  have  described  lay  through 
the  plantations.  The  greatest  part  ot 
the  ground  was  quite  flat,  with  ditches 
full  of  water  intersecting  different 
parts,  and  roads  that  seemed  artifi- 
cially raised  to  some  height.  The 
interspaces  were  in  general  planted 
with  "taro,"  which  grows  here  with 
great  strength,  as  the  fields  are  sunk 
below  the  common  level  so  as  to  con- 
tain the  water  necessary  to  nourish 
the  roots.  This  water  probably  comes 
from  the  same  source  which  supplies 
the  large  pool  from  which  we  filled 
our  casks.  On  the  drier  spaces  were 
several  spots  where  the  cloth -mulberry 
was  planted  in  regular  rows,  also  grow- 
ing vigorously,  and  kept  very  clean. 
The  cocoa-trees  were  not  in  so  thriving 
a  state,  and  were  all  low ;  but  the 
plantain-trees  made  a  better  appear- 
ance, though  they  were  not  large.  In 
general,  the  trees  round  this  village, 
and  which  were  seen  at  many  of  those 
which  we  passed  before  we  anchored, 
are  the  Cordia  sebestina,  but  of  a  more 
diminutive  size  than  the  product  of 
the  southern  isles.  The  greatest  part 
of  the  village  stands  near  the  beach,  and 
consists  of  above  sixty  houses  there  ; 
but  perhaps  about  forty  more  stand 
scattered  about  farther  up  the  country 
towards  the  burying-place.  .  .  . 

At  7  o'clock  on  the  23d,  a  breeze 
of  wind  springing  up  at  NE. ,  I  took 


228 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.      [VoY.III.B.III.Cu.XL 


tip  the  anchors  with  a  view  of  remov- 
ing the  ship  farther  out.  The  moment 
that  the  last  anchor  was  up,  the  wind 
veered  to  the  E.,  which  made  it  neces- 
sary to  set  all  the  sail  we  could  in  order 
to  clear  the  shore  ;  so  that  before  we 
had  tolerable  sea-room  we  were  driven 
some  distance  to  leeward.  We  made 
a  stretch  off  with  a  view  to  regain  the 
road ;  but  having  very  little  wind, 
and  a  strong  current  against  us,  I 
found  that  this  was  not  to  be  effected. 
I  therefore  despatched  Messrs  King 
and  Williamson  ashore  with  three 
boats  for  water,  and  to  trade  for  re- 
freshments. At  the  same  time  I  sent 
an  order  to  Captain  Clerke  to  put  to 
sea  after  me,  if  he  should  see  that  I 
could  not  recover  the  road.  Being  in 
hopes  of  finding  one,  or  perhaps  a 
harbour,  at  the  west  end  of  the  island, 
I  was  the  less  anxious  about  getting 
back  to  my  former  station.  But  as  I 
had  sent  the  boats  thither,  we  kept 
to  windward  as  much  as  possible  ; 
notwithstanding  which,  at  noon  we 
were  three  leagues  to  leeward.  As 
we  drew  near  the  west  end  of  the 
island,  we  found  the  coast  to  round 
gradually  to  the  north-east,  without 
forming  a  creek  or  cove  to  shelter  a 
vessel  from  the  force  of  the  swell  which 
rolled  in  from  the  north,  and  broke 
upon  the  shore  in  a  prodigious  surf ; 
so  that  all  hopes  of  .finding  a  harbour 
here  vanished. 

Several  canoes  came  off  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  followed  us  as  we  stood  out 
to  sea,  bartering  their  roots  and  other 
articles.  Being  very  averse  to  believe 
these  people  to  be  cannibals,  notwith- 
standing the  suspicious  circumstance 
which  had  happened  the  day  before, 
we  took  occasion  now  to  make  some 
more  inquiries  about  this.  A  small 
wooden  instrument,  beset  with  sharks' 
teeth,  had  been  purchased  ;  and  from 
its  resemblance  to  the  saw  or  knife 
used  by  the  New  Zealanders  to  disect 
the  bodies  of  their  enemies,  it  was 
suspected  to  have  the  same  use  here. 
One  of  the  natives  being  asked  about 
this,  immediately  gave  the  name  of 
the  instrument,  and  told  us  that  it 
was  used  to  cut  out  the  fleshy  part  of 
the  belly  when  any  person  was  killed. 


This  explained  and  confirmed  the  cir- 
cumstance above  mentioned  of  the 
person  pointing  to  his  belly.  The 
man,  however,  from  whom  we  had 
this  information,  being  asked  if  his 
countrymen  eat  the  part  thus  cut  out, 
denied  it  strongly ;  but,  upon  the 
question  being  repeated,  showed  some 
degree  of  fear  and  swam  to  his  canoe. 
Just  before  he  reached  it,  he  made 
signs  as  he  had  done  before,  expres- 
sive of  the  use  of  the  instrument. 
And  an  old  man,  who  sat  foremost  in 
the  canoe,  being  then  asked  whether 
they  ate  the  flesh,  answered  in  the 
affirmative,  and  laughed,  seemingly 
at  the  simplicity  of  such  a  question. 
He  affirmed  the  fact  on  being  asked 
again  ;  and  also  said  it  was  excellent 
food,  or,  as  he  expressed  it,  "savoury 
eating."  At  7  o'clock  in  the  evening 
the  boats  returned,  with  two  tons  of 
water,  a  few  hogs,  a  quantity  of  plan- 
tains, and  some  roots.  Mr  King  in- 
formed me  that  a  great  number  of  the 
inhabitants  were  at  the  watering  or 
landing-place.  He  supposed  that 
they  had  come  from  all  parts  of  the 
island.  They  had  brought  with  them 
a  great  many  fine  fat  hogs  to  barter  ; 
but  my  people  had  not  commodities 
with  them  equal  to  the  purchase. 
This,  however,  was  no  great  loss,  for 
we  had  already  got  as  many  on  board 
as  we  could  well  manage  for  imme- 
diate use  ;  and  wanting  the  materials 
we  could  not  have  salted  them.  Mr 
King  also  told  me  that  a  great  deal 
of  rain  had  fallen  ashore,  whereas  out 
at  sea  we  had  only  a  few  showers  ; 
and  that  the  surf  had  run  so  high  that 
it  was  with  great  difficulty  our  men 
landed  and  got  back  into  the  boats. 

We  had  light  airs  and  calms  by 
turns,  with  showers  of  rain,  all  night ; 
and  at  daybreak  in  the  morning  of 
the  24th  we  found  that  the  currents 
had  carried  the  ship  to  the  NW.  and 
N. ;  so  that  the  west  end  of  the  island, 
upon  which  we  had  been,  called  Atooi 
by  the  natives,  bore  E.  one  league 
distant ;  another  island,  called  Oree- 
houa,  W.  by  S. ;  and  the  high  land  of 
a  third  island,  called  Oneeheow,  from 
SW.  by  W.  to  WSW.  Soon  after,  a 
breeze  sprang  up  at  N.  ;  and  as  I 


JAN.  1778.]  THE  NATIVES 

expected  that  this  would  bring  the 
Discovery  to  sea,  I  steered  for  Onee- 
heow,  in  order  to  take  a  nearer  view 
of  it,  and  to  anchor  there  if  I  should 
find  a  convenient  place.  I  continued 
to  steer  for  it  till  past  11  o'clock,  at 
which  time  we  were  about  two  leagues 
from  it.  But  not  seeing  the  Discovery, 
and  being  doubtful  whether  they  could 
see  us,  I  was  fearful  lest  some  ill  con- 
sequence might  attend  our  separating 
so  far.  I  therefore  gave  up  the  design 
of  visiting  Oneeheow  for  the  present, 
and  stood  back  to  Atooi,  with  an  in- 
tent to  anchor  again  in  the  road  to 
complete  our  water.  At  2  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon  the  northerly  wind  died 
away,  and  was  succeeded  by  variable 
light  airs  and  calms  that  continued 
till  eleven  at  night,  with  which  we 
stretched  to  the  SE.  till  daybreak  in 
the  morning  of  the  25th,  when  we 
tacked  and  stood  in  for  Atooi  road, 
which  bore  about  N.  from  us  ;  and 
soon  after  we  were  joined  by  the  Dis- 
covery. "We  fetched  in  with  the  land 
about  two  leagues  to  leeward  of  the 
road,  which,  though  so  near,  we  never 
could  recover  ;  for  what  we  gained  at 
one  time  we  lost  at  another,  so  that 
by  the  morning  of  the  29th  the  cur- 
rents had  carried  us  westward  within 
three  leagues  of  Oneeheow.  Being 
tired  with  plying  so  unsuccessfully,  I 
gave  up  all  thoughts  of  getting  back 
to  Atooi,  and  came  to  the  resolution 
of  trying  whether  we  could  not  procure 
what  we  wanted  at  the  other  island, 
which  was  within  our  reach.  With 
this  view  I  sent  the  master  in  a  boat 
to  sound  the  coast,  to  look  out  for  a 
landing-place,  and,  if  he  should  find 
one,  to  examine  if  fresh  water  could  be 
conveniently  got  in  its  neighbourhood. 
To  give  him  time  to  execute  his  com- 
mission, we  followed  under  an  easy 
sail  with  the  ships.  At  10  o'clock 
the  master  returned,  and  reported 
that  he  had  landed  in  one  place  but 
could  find  no  fresh  water ;  and  that 
there  was  anchorage  all  along  the 
coast.  Seeing  a  village  a  little  farther 
to  leeward,  and  some  of  the  islanders 
who  had  come  oft'  to  the  ships  inform- 
ing us  that  fresh  water  might  be  got 
there,  I  ran  down  and  came  to  an 


OF  ONEEHEOW.  229 

anchor  before  it,  in  twenty-six  fathoms 
water,  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile 
from  the  shore. 

Six  or  seven  canoes  had  come  off  to 
us  before  we  anchored,  bringing  some 
small  pigs  and  potatoes,  and  a  good 
many  yams  and  mats.  The  people 
in  them  resembled  those  of  Atooi,  and 
seemed  to  be  equally  well  acquainted 
with  the  use  of  iron,  which  they  asked 
for  also  by  the  names  of  "  hamaite  " 
and  "toe;"  parting  readily  with  all 
their  commodities  for  pieces  of  this 
precious  metal.  Several  more  canoes 
soon  reached  the  ships  after  they  had 
anchored,  but  the  natives  in  these 
seemed  to  have  no  other  object  than 
to  pay  us  a  formal  visit.  Many  of 
them  came  readily  on  board,  crouch- 
ing down  upon  the  deck,  and  not 
quitting  that  humble  posture  till  they 
were  desired  to  get  up.  They  had 
brought  several  females  with  them, 
who  remained  alongside  in  the  canoes, 
behaving  with  far  less  modesty  than 
their  countrywomen  of  Atooi ;  and  at 
times  all  joining  in  a  song  not  re- 
markable for  its  melody,  though  per- 
formed in  very  exact  concert  by 
beating  time  upon  their  breasts  with 
their  hands.  The  men  who  had  come 
on  board  did  not  stay  long ;  and  be- 
fore they  departed  some  of  them 
requested  our  permission  to  lay  down 
on  the  deck  locks  of  their  hair. 
These  visitors  furnished  us  with  an 
opportunity  of  agitating  again  this 
day  the  curious  inquiry  whether  they 
were  cannibals,  and  the  subject  did 
not  take  its  rise  from  any  questions  of 
ours,  but  from  a  circumstance  that 
seemed  to  remove  all  ambiguity.  One 
of  the  islanders  who  wanted  to  get  in 
at  the  gun-room  port  was  refused,  and 
at  the  same  time  asked  whether,  if  he 
should  come  in,  we  would  kill  and 
eat  him,  accompanying  this  question 
with  signs  so  expressive  that  there 
could  be  no  doubt  about  his  meaning. 
This  gave  a  proper  opening  to  retort 
the  question  as  to  this  practice  ;  and 
a  person  behind  the  other  in  the  canoe, 
who  paid  great  attention  to  what  was 
passing,  immediately  answered  that 
if  we  were  killed  on  shore  they  would 
certainly  eat  us.  He  spoke  with  so 


230 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.      [TOY.  III.  B.  III.  CH.  XI. 


little  emotion  that  it  appeared  plainly 
to  be  his  meaning  that  they  would 
not  destroy  us  for  that  purpose,  but 
that  their  eating  us  would  be  the  con- 
sequence of  our  being  at  enmity  with 
them.  I  have  availed  myself  of  Mr  An- 
derson's collections  for  the  decision  of 
this  matter,  and  I  am  sorry  to  say  that 
I  cannot  see  the  least  reason  to  hesit- 
ate in  pronouncing  it  to  be  certain 
that  the  horrid  banquet  of  human 
flesh  is  as  much  relished  here  amidst 
plenty  as  it  is  in  New  Zealand. 

In  the  afternoon  I  sent  Lieutenant 
Gore  with  three  armed  boats  to  look 
for  the  most  convenient  landing-place, 
and  when  on  shore  to  search  for  fresh 
water.  In  the  evening  he  returned, 
having  landed  at  the  village  above 
mentioned,  and  acquainted  me  that 
he  had  been  conducted  to  a  well  half- 
a-mile  up  the  country  ;  but  by  his 
account,  the  quantity  of  water  it  con- 
tained was  too  inconsiderable  for  our 
purpose,  and  the  road  leading  to  it 
exceedingly  bad.  On  the  30th  I  sent 
Mr  Gore  ashore  again,  with  a  guard 
of  marines  and  a  party,  to  trade  with 
the  natives  for  refreshments.  I  in- 
tended to  have  followed  soon  after, 
and  went  from  the  ship  with  that 
design.  But  the  surf  had  increased 
so  much  by  this  time  that  I  was  fear- 
ful, if  I  got  ashore,  I  should  not  be 
able  to  get  off  again.  This  really 
happened  to  our  people  who  had 
landed  with  Mr  Gore,  the  communi- 
cation between  them  and  the  ships 
by  our  own  boats  being  soon  stopped. 
In  the  evening  they  made  a  signal  for 
the  boats,  which  were  sent  accord- 
ingly ;  and  not  long  after  they  returned 
with  a  few  yams  and  some  salt.  A 
tolerable  quantity  of  both  had  been 
procured  in  the  course  of  the  day,  but 
the  surf  was  so  great  that  the  greatest 
part  of  both  these  articles  had  been 
lost  in  conveying  them  to  the  boats. 
The  officer  and  twenty  men,  deterred 
by  the  danger  of  coming  off,  were  left 
ashore  all  night ;  and  by  this  unfor- 
tunate circumstance  the  very  thing  hap- 
pened which,  as  I  have  already  men- 
tioned, I  wished  so  heartily  to  prevent, 
and  vainly  imagined  I  had  effectually 
guarded  against.  The  violence  of  the 


surf,  which  our  own  boats  could  not 
act  against,  did  not  hinder  the  natives 
from  coming  off  to  the  ships  in  their 
canoes.  They  brought  refreshments 
with  them,  which  were  purchased  in 
exchange  for  nails  and  pieces  of  iron 
hoops ;  and  I  distributed  a  good  many 
pieces  of  ribbon  and  some  buttons  as 
bracelets  amongst  the  women  in  the 
canoes.  One  of  the  men  had  the  figure 
of  a  lizard  punctured  upon  his  breast, 
and  upon  those  of  others  were  the 
figures  of  men  badly  imitated.  These 
visitors  informed  us  that  there  was 
no  chief,  or  "  Hairee,"  of  this  island, 
but  that  it  was  subject  to  Teneooneoo, 
a  chief  of  Atooi ;  which  island,  they 
said,  was  not  governed  by  a  single 
chief,  but  that  there  were  many  to 
whom  they  paid  the  honour  of  "moe," 
or  prostration ;  and  among  others 
they  named  Otaeaio  and  Terarotoa. 
Amongst  other  things  which  these 
people  now  brought  off  was  a  small 
drum,  almost  like  those  of  Otaheite. 

About  10  or  11  o'clock  at  night  the 
wind  veered  to  the  south,  and  the  sky 
seemed  to  forebode  a  storm.  With 
such  appearances,  thinking  that  we 
were  rather  too  near  the  shore,  I 
ordered  the  anchors  to  be  taken  up  ; 
and  having  carried  the  ships  into 
forty-two  fathoms,  came  to  again  in 
that  safer  station.  The  precaution, 
however,  proved  to  be  unnecessary, 
for  the  wind  soon  after  veered  to  NNE. , 
from  which  quarter  it  blew  a  fresh 
gale,  with  squalls,  attended  with  very 
heavy  showers  of  rain.  This  weather 
continued  all  the  next  day,  and  the 
sea  ran  so  high  that  we  had  no  man- 
ner of  communication  with  our  party 
on  shore  ;  and  even  the  natives  them- 
selves durst  not  venture  out  to  the 
ships  in  their  canoes.  In  the  evening 
I  sent  the  master  in  a  boat  up  to  the 
south-east  head  or  point  of  the  island 
to  try  if  he  could  land  under  it.  He 
returned  with  a  favourable  report ; 
but  it  was  too  late  now  to  send  for 
our  party  till  the  next  morning,  and 
thus  they  had  another  night  to  im- 
prove their  intercourse  with  the 
natives.  Encouraged  by  the  master's 
report,  I  sent  a  boat  to  the  south-east 
point  as  soon  as  daylight  returned 


FEB.  1778.]  ACCOUNT  OF  WHAT 
with  an  order  to  Mr  Gore  if  he  could 
not  embark  his  people  from  the  spot 
where  they  now  were  to  march  them 
up  to  the  point.  As  the  boat  could 
not  get  to  the  beach,  one  of  the  crew 
swam  ashore  and  carried  the  order. 
On  the  return  of  the  boat,  I  went  my- 
self with  the  pinnace  and  launch  up 
to  the  point  to  bring  the  party  on 
board,  taking  with  me  a  ram-goat 
and  two  ewes,  a  boar  and  sow  pig  of 
the  English  breed,  and  the  seeds  of 
melons,  pumpkins,  and  onions,  being 
very  desirous  of  benefiting  these  poor 
people  by  furnishing  them  with  some 
additional  articles  of  food.  I  landed 
with  the  greatest  ease  under  the  west 
side  of  the  point,  and  found  niy  party 
already  there,  with  some  of  the 
natives  in  company.  To  one  of  them 
whom  Mr  Gore  had  observed  assum- 
ing some  command  over  the  rest,  I 
gave  the  goats,  pigs,  and  seeds.  I 
should  have  left  these  well-intended 
presents  at  Atooi  had  we  not  been  so 
unexpectedly  driven  from  it. 

The  habitations  of  the  natives  were 
thinly  scattered  about,  and  it  was 
supposed  that  there  could  not  be 
more  than  500  people  upon  the  island, 
as  the  greatest  part  were  seen  at  the 
marketing-place  of  our  party,  and 
few  found  about  the  houses  by  those 
who  walked  up  the  country.  They 
had  an  opportunity  of  observing  the 
method  of  living  amongst  the  natives, 
and  it  appeared  to  be  decent  and 
cleanly.  They  did  not,  however,  see 
any  instance  of  the  men  and  women 
eating  together ;  and  the  latter  seemed 
generally  associated  in  companies  by 
themselves.  It  was  found  that  they 
burned  here  the  oily  nuts  of  the 
"  dooe  dooe  "  for  lights  in  the  night, 
as  at  Otaheite  ;  and  that  they  baked 
their  hogs  in  ovens,  but,  contrary  to 
the  practice  of  the  Society  and  Friendly 
Islands,  split  their  carcases  through 
their  whole  length.  They  met  with 
a  positive  proof  of  the  existence  of  the 
"  taboo  "  (or,  as  they  pronounce  it, 
the  "tafoo"),  for  one  woman  fed 
another  who  was  under  that  interdic- 
tion. They  also  observed  some  other 
mysterious  ceremonies,  one  of  which 
was  performed  by  a  woman,  who  took 


PASSED  ON  LANDING.  231 

a  small  pig  and  threw  it  into  the  surf, 
till  it  was  drowned,  and  then  tied  up 
a  bundle  of  wood,  which  she  also 
disposed  of  in  the  same  manner.  The 
same  woman  at  another  time  beat 
with  a  stick  upon  a  man's  shoulders, 
who  sat  down  for  that  purpose.  A 
particular  veneration  seemed  to  be 
paid  here  to  owls,  which  they  have 
very  tame  ;  and  it  was  observed  to  be 
a  pretty  general  practice  amongst 
them  to  pull  out  one  of  their  teeth,1 
for  which  odd  custom,  when  asked 
the  reason,  the  only  answer  that 
could  be  got  was,  that  it  was  "  teeha," 
which  was  also  the  reason  assigned  for 
another  of  their  practices,  the  giving 
a  lock  of  their  hair. 

After  the  water-casks  had  been 
filled  and  conveyed  into  the  boat, 
and  we  had  purchased  from  the 
natives  a  few  roots,  a  little  salt,  and 
some  salted  fish,  I  returned  on  board 
with  all  the  people,  intending  to  visit 
the  island  the  next  day.  But  about 
7  o'clock  in  the  evening  the  anchor 
of  the  Resolution  started,  and  she 
drove  off  the  ban«c.  As  we  had  a 
whole  cable  out,  it  was  some  time 
before  the  anchor  was  at  the  bows, 
and  then  we  had  the  launch  to  hoist 
up  alongside  before  AVO  could  make 
sail.  By  this  unlucky  accident  we 
found  ourselves  at  daybreak  next 
morning  three  leagues  to  the  leeward 
of  our  last  station  ;  and  foreseeing 
that  it  would  require  more  time  to 
recover  it  than  I  chose  to  spend,  I 
made  the  signal  for  the  Discovery  to 
weigh  and  join  us.  This  was  done 


1  It  is  very  remarkable  that  in  this 
custom,  which  one  would  think  is  so 
unnatural  as  not  to  be  adopted  by  two 
different  tribes  originally  unconnected, 
the  people  of  this  island,  and  Dam- 
pier's  natives  on  the  west  side  of  New 
Holland,  at  such  an  immense  distance 
should  be  found  to  agree. — Note  in 
Original  Edition.  Dampier,  in  his 
Sixteenth  Chapter  (ante,  p.  254),  says 
of  the  New  Hollanders:  "The  two 
fore  teeth  of  their  upper  jaw  are  want- 
ing in  all  of  them,  men  and  women, 
old  and  young ;  whether  they  draw 
them  out,  I  know  not." 


232 

about  noon,  and  we  immediately  stood 
away  to  the  northward  in  prosecution 
of  our  voyage.  Thus  after  spending 
more  time  about  these  islands  than 
was  necessary  to  have  answered  all 
our  purposes,  we  were  obliged  to  leave 
them  before  wo  had  completed  our 
water  and  got  from  them  such  a  quan- 
tity of  refreshments  as  their  inhabitants 
were  both  able  and  willing  to  have 
supplied  us  with.  But  as  it  was,  our 
ship  procured  from  them  provisions 
sufficient  for  three  weeks  at  least;  and 
Captain  Clerke,  more  fortunate  than  us, 
got  of  their  vegetable  productions  a 
supply  that  lasted  his  people  upward  of 
two  months.  The  observations  I  was 
enabled  to  make,  combined  with  those 
of  Mr  Anderson,  who  was  a  very  use- 
ful assistant  on  all  such  occasions, 
will  furnish  materials  for  the  next 
Chapter. 


CHAPTER  Xll 

IT  is  worthy  of  observation  that  the 
islands  in  the  Pacific  Ocean  which 
our  late  voyages  have  added  to  the 
geography  of  the  globe  have  been 
generally  found  lying  in  groups  or 
clusters,  the  single  intermediate  is- 
lands as  yet  discovered  being  few 
in  proportion  to  the  others,  though 
probably  there  are  many  more  of  them 
still  unknown,  which  serve  as  steps 
between  the  several  clusters;  Of  what 
number  this  newly  discovered  archi- 
pelago consists  must  be  left  for  future 
investigation.  We  saw  five  of  them, 
whose  names,  as  given  to  us  by  the 
natives,  are  Woahoo,  Atooi,  Onee- 
heow,  Oreehoua,  and  Tahoora.  The 
last  is  a  small  elevated  island,  lying 
four  or  five  leagues  from  the  south- 
east point  of  OneeheoW,  in  the  direc- 
tion of  S.  69°  W.  We  were  told  that 
it  abounds  with  birds,  which  are  its 
only  inhabitants.  We  also  got  some 
information  of  the  existence  of  a  low 
uninhabited  island  in  the  neighbour- 
hood, whose  name  is  Tammata-papa. 
Besides  these  six,  which  we  can  dis- 
tinguish by  their  names,  it  appeared 
that  the  inhabitants  of  those  with 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.    [Vov.  III.B.III.CH.XI!. 


whom  we  had  intercourse  were  ac- 
quainted with  some  other  islands  both 
to  the  eastward  and  westward.  I 
named  the  whole  group  the  Sandwich 
Islands,  in  honour  of  the  Earl  of 
Sandwich.  Those  that  I  saw  are 
situated  between  the  Latitude  of  21* 
30'  and  22°  15'  N.,  and  between  the 
Longitude  of  199°  20'  and  201°  30'  E. 

Of  Woahoo,  the  most  easterly  of 
these  islands  seen  by  us,  which  lies 
in  the  Latitude  of  21°  36',  we  could 
get  no  other  intelligence  but  that  it 
is  high  land  and  is  inhabited. 

We  had  opportunities  of  knowing 
some  particulars  about  Oneeheow, 
which  have  been  mentioned  already. 
It  lies  several  leagues  to  the  westward 
of  our  anchoring-place  at  Atooi,  and 
is  not  above  fifteen  leagues  in  circuit. 
Its  chief  vegetable  produce  is  yams,  if 
we  may  judge  from  what  was  brought 
to  us  by  the  natives.  They  have  salt, 
which  they  call  "patai,"  and  is  pro- 
duced in  salt-ponds.  With  it  they 
cure  both  fish  and  pork,  and  some 
salt  fish  which  we  got  from  them  kept 
very  well  and  were  found  to  be  very 
good.  This  island  is  mostly  low  land, 
except  the  part  facing  Atooi,  which 
rises  directly  from  the  sea  to  a  good 
height,  as  does  also  the  south-east 
point  of  it,  which  terminates  in  a 
round  hill.  It  was  on  the  west  side 
of  this  point  where  our  ships  an- 
chored. 

Of  Oreehoua  we  know  nothing  more 
than  that  it  is  a  small  elevated  island 
lying  close  to  the  north  side  of  Onee- 
heow. 

Atooi,  which  is  the  largest,  being 
the  principal  scene  of  our  operations, 
I  shall  now  proceed  to  lay  before  my 
readers  what  information  I  was  able 
to  collect  about  it,  either  from  actual 
observation  while  on  shore,  or  from 
conversation  with  its  inhabitants,  who 
were  perpetually  on  board  the  ships 
while  we  lay  at  anchor,  and  who  in 
general  could  be  tolerably  well  under- 
stood by  those  of  us  who  had  acquired 
an  acquaintance  with  the  dialects  of 
the  South  Pacific  islands.  It  is,  how- 
ever, to  be  regretted  that  we  should 
have  been  obliged  so  soon  to  leave  a 
place  which,  as  far  as  our  opportuni- 


FEB.  1778.] 


ATOOI  DESCRIBED. 


ties  of  knowing  reached,  seemed  to  be 
highly  worthy  of  a  more  accurate  exa- 
mination. 

Atooi,  from  what  we  saw  of  it,  is 
at  least  ten  leagues  in  length  from 
east  to  west,  from  whence  its  circuit 
may  nearly  be  guessed,  though  it 
appears  to  be  much  broader  at  the 
east  than  at  the  west  point,  if  we  may 
judge  from  the  double  range  of  hills 
which  appeared  there.  The  road  or 
anchoring-place  which  we  occupied 
is  on  the  south-west  side  of  the  island, 
about  six  miles  from  the  west  end, 
before  a  village  which  has  the  name 
of  Wymoa. 

The  land,  as  to  its  general  appear- 
ance, does  not  in  the  least  resemble 
any  of  the  islands  we  have  hitherto 
visited  within  the  tropic,  on  the 
south  side  of  the  Equator,  if  we  except 
its  hills  near  the  centre,  which  are 
high,  but  slope  gently  to  the  sea  or 
lower  lands.  Though  it  be  destitute 
of  the  delightful  borders  of  Otaheite, 
and  of  the  luxuriant  plains  of  Tonga- 
taboo,  covered  with  trees,  which  at 
once  afford  a  friendly  shelter  from  the 
scorching  sun,  and  an  enchanting 
prospect  to  the  eye,  and  food  for  the 
natives,  which  may  be  truly  said  to 
drop  from  the  trees  into  their  mouths, 
without  the  laborious  task  of  rearing; 
though  I  say  Atooi  be  destitute  of 
these  advantages,  its  possessing  a 
greater  quantity  of  gently  -  rising 
land  renders  it  in  some  measure  su- 
perior to  the  above  favourite  islands, 
as  being  more  capable  of  improve- 
ment. The  height  of  the  land  within, 
the  quantity  of  clouds  which  we  saw, 
during  the  whole  time  we  stayed, 
hanging  over  it,  and  frequently  on 
the  other  parts,  seems  to  put  it  be- 
yond all  doubt  that  there  is  a  suffici- 
ent supply  of  water,  and  that  there  are 
some  running  streams  which  we  did 
not  see,  especially  in  the  deep  valleys, 
at  the  entrance  of  which  the  villages 
commonly  stand.  From  the  wooded 
part  to  the  sea,  the  ground  is  covered 
with  an  excellent  sort  of  grass,  about 
two  feet  high,  whi^h  grows  sometimes 
in  tufts, 'and,  though  not  very  thick 
at  the  place  where  we  were,  seemed 
capable  of  being  converted  into  plen- 


tiful crops  of  fine  hay.  But  not  even 
a  shrub  grows  naturalty  on  this  exten- 
sive space. 

In  the  break,  or  narrow  valley, 
through  which  we  had  our  road  to 
the  "morai,"  the  soil  is  of  a  brownish 
black  colour,  somewhat  loose ;  but  as 
we  advanced  upon  the  high  ground  it 
changed  to  a  reddish  brown,  more 
stiff  and  clayey,  though  at  this  time 
brittle  from  its  dryness.  It  is  most 
probably  the  same  all  over  the  culti- 
vated parts  ;  for  what  adhered  to  most 
of  the  potatoes  bought  by  us,  which 
no  doubt  came  from  very  different 
spots,  was  of  this  sort.  Its  quality, 
however,  may  be  better  understood 
from  its  products  than  from  its  ap- 
pearance. For  the  vale,  or  moist 
ground,  produces  "taro"  of  a  much 
larger  size  than  any  we  had  ever  seen  ; 
and  the  higher  ground  furnishes  sweet 
potatoes,  that  often  weigh  ten,  and 
sometimes  twelve  or  fourteen  pounds, 
very  few  being  under  two  or  three. 

The  temperature  of  the  climate  may 
be  easily  guessed  from  the  situation 
of  the  island.  Were  we  to  judge  of 
it  from  our  experience,  it  might  be 
said  to  be  very  variable  ;  for,  accord- 
ing to  the  generally  received  opinion, 
it  was  now  the  season  of  the  year 
when  the  weather  is  supposed  to  be 
most  settled,  the  sun  being  at  his 
greatest  annual  distance.  The  heat 
was  at  this  time  very  moderate  ;  and 
few  of  those  inconveniences  which 
many  tropical  countries  are  subject 
to,  either  from  heat  or  moisture,  seem 
to  be  experienced  here,  as  the  habita- 
tions of  the  natives  are  quite  close  ; 
and  they  salt  both  fish  and  pork, 
which  keep  well,  contrary  to  what 
has  usually  been  observed  to  be  the 
case  when  this  operation  is  attempted 
in  hot  countries.  Neither  did  we  find 
any  dews  of  consequence,  which  may 
in  some  measure  be  accounted  for  by 
the  lower  part  of  the  country  being 
destitute  of  trees.  .  .  . 

The  inhabitants  are  of  a  middling 
stature,  firmly  made,  with  some  ex- 
ceptions neither  remarkable  for  a 
beautiful  shape,  nor  for  striking 
features,  which  rather  express  an 
openness  and  good -nature,  than  a 


234 

keen,  intelligent  disposition.  Their 
visage,  especially  amongst  the  women, 
is  sometimes  round,  but  others  have 
it  long ;  nor  can  we  say  that  they 
are  distinguished  as  a  nation  by  any 
general  cast  of  countenance.  Their 
colour  is  nearly  of  a  nut  brown  ;  and 
it  may  be  difficult  to  make  a  nearer 
comparison,  if  we  take  in  all  the  dif- 
ferent hues  of  that  colour  ;  but  some 
individuals  are  darker.  The  women 
have  been  already  mentioned  as  being 
little  more  delicate  than  the  men  in 
their  formation  ;  and  I  may  say  that, 
with  a  very  few  exceptions,  they  have 
little  claim  to  those  peculiarities  that 
distinguish  the  sex  in  other  countries. 
There  is,  indeed,  a  more  remarkable 
equality  in  the  size,  colour,  and  figure 
of  both  sexes  than  in  most  places  I 
have  visited.  However,  upon  the 
whole,  they  are  far  from  being  ugly, 
and  appear  to  have  few  natural  de- 
formities of  any  kind.  Their  skin  is 
not  very  soft  nor  shining,  perhaps  for 
want  of  oiling,  which  is  practised  at  the 
Southern  Islands  ;  but  their  eyes  and 
teeth  are  in  general  very  tolerable.  The 
hair,  for  the  greatest  part,  is  straight, 
though  in  some  frizzling  ;  and  though 
its  natural  colour  be  commonly  black, 
it  is  stained  as  at  the  Friendly  and 
other  islands.  We  saw  but  few  in- 
stances of  corpulence,  and  these 
oftener  among  the  women  than  the 
men  ;  but  it  was  chiefly  amongst  the 
latter  that  personal  defects  were 
observed,  though,  if  any  of  them  can 
claim  a  share  of  beauty,  it  was  most 
conspicuous  amongst  the  young  men. 
They  are  vigorous,  active,  and  most 
expert  swimmers,  leaving  their  canoes 
upon  the  most  trifling  occasion,  diving 
under  them,  and  swimming  to  others, 
though  at  a  great  distance.  It  was 
v«ry  common  to  see  women,  with 
infants  at  the  breast,  when  the  surf 
was  so  high  that  they  could  not  land 
in  the  canoes,  leap  overboard,  and, 
without  endangering  their  little  ones, 
swim  to  the  shore  through  a  sia  that 
looked  dreadful. 

They  seem  to  be  blest  with  a  frank, 
cheerful  disposition  ;  and  were  I  to 
draw  any  comparisons,  I  should  say 
that  they  are  equally  free  from  the 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.     [VoY.  III.  B.  III.  CH.  XII. 

fickle  levity  which  distinguishes  the 
natives  of  Otaheite,  and  the  sedate 
cast  observable  amongst  many  of 
those  of  Tongataboo.  They  seem  to 
live  very  sociably  in  their  inter- 
course with  one  another  ;  and  except 
the  propensity  to  thieving,  which 
seems  innate  in  most  of  the  people 
we  have  visited  in  this  ocean,  they 
were  exceedingly  friendly  to  us.  And 
it  does  iheir  sensibility  no  little 
credit,  without  flattering  ourselves, 
that  when  they  saw  the  various 
articles  of  our  European  manufac- 
ture, they  could  not  help  expressing 
their  surprise,  by  a  mixture  of  joy 
and  concern  that  seemed  to  apply 
the  case  as  a  lesson  of  humility  to 
themselves  ;  and  on  all  occasions  they 
appeared  deeply  impressed  with  a 
consciousness  of  their  own  inferiority, 
a  behaviour  which  equally  exempts 
their  national  character  from  the  pre- 
posterous pride  of  the  more  polished 
Japanese,  and  of  the  ruder  Green- 
lander.  It  was  a  pleasure  to  observe 
with  how  much  affection  the  women 
managed  their  infants,  and  how 
readily  the  men  lent  their  assistance 
to  such  a  tender  office,  thus  suffici- 
ently distinguishing  themselves  from 
those  savages,  who  esteem  a  wife  and 
child  as  things  rather  necessary  than 
desirable  or  worthy  of  their  notice. 

From  the  numbers  which  we  saw 
collected  at  every  village  as  we  sailed 
past,  it  may  be  supposed  that  the 
inhabitants  of  this  island  are  pretty 
numerous.  Any  computation  that 
we  make  can  be  only  conjectural. 
But,  that  some  notion  may  be  formed 
which  shall  not  greatly  err  on  either 
side,  I  should  suppose  that,  including 
the  straggling  houses  there  might  be 
upon  the  whole  island,  sixty  such 
villages  as  that  before  which  we 
anchored ;  and  that,  allowing  five 
persons  to  each  house,  there  would 
be  in  every  village  500,  or  30,000 
upon  the  island.  This  number  is 
certainly  not  exaggerated,  for  we  had 
sometimes  3000  persons  at  least  upon 
the  beach,  when  it  could  not  be  sup- 
posed that  above  a  tenth  part  of  the 
inhabitants  were  present. 

The  common  dress  both    of   the 


FEB.  1778.]     NATIVES  OF  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


women  and  of  the  men  has  been 
already  described.  The  first  have 
often  much  larger  pieces  of  cloth  wrap- 
ped round  them,  reaching  from  just  be- 
low the  breasts  to  the  hams,  or  lower  ; 
and  several  were  seen  with  pieces 
thrown  loosely  about  the  shoulders, 
which  covered  the  greatest  part  of 
the  body ;  but  the  children,  when 
very  young,  are  quite  naked.  They 
wear  nothing  upon  the  head,  but  the 
hair  in  both  sexes  is  cut  in  different 
forms  ;  and  the  general  fashion,  espe- 
cially among  the  women,  is  to  have  it 
long  before,  and  short  behind.  The 
men  often  had  it  cut  or  shaved  on 
each  side,  in  such  a  manner  that  the 
remaining  part  in  some  measure 
resembles  the  crest  of  their  caps  or 
helmets  formerly  described.  Both 
sexes,  however,  seem  very  careless 
about  their  hair,  and  have  nothing 
like  combs  to  dress  it  with.  Instances 
of  wearing  it  in  a  singular  manner 
were  sometimes  met  with  among  the 
men,  who  twist  it  into  a  number  of 
separate  parcels,  like  the  tails  of  a 
wig,  each  about  the  thickness  of  a 
finger,  though  the  greatest  part  of 
these,  which  are  so  long  that  they 
reach  far  down  the  back,  we  observed 
were  artificially  fixed  upon  the  head 
over  their  own  hair. 

It  is  remarkable  that,  contrary  to 
the  general  practice  of  the  islands  we 
had  hitherto  discovered  in  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  the  people  of  the  Sandwich 
Islands  have  not  their  ears  perforated, 
nor  have  they  the  least  idea  of  wear- 
ing ornaments  in  them.  Both  sexes, 
nevertheless,  adorn  themselves  with 
necklaces  made  of  bunches  of  small 
black  cord,  like  our  hat-string,  often 
above  a  hundred-fold,  exactly  like 
those  of  Wateeoo,  only  that  instead 
of  the  two  little  balls,  on  the  middle 
before,  they  fix  a  small  bit  of  wood, 
stone,  or  shell,  about  two  inches  long, 
with  a  broad  hook,  turning  forward 
at  its  lower  part,  well  polished.  They 
have  likewise  necklaces  of  m  any  strings 
of  very  small  shells,  or  of  the  dried 
flowers  of  the  Indian  mallow  ;  and 
sometimes  a  small  human  image  of 
bone,  about  three  inches  long,  neatly 
polished,  is  hung  round  the  neck. 


235 

The  women  also  wear  bracelets  of  a 
single  shell,  pieces  of  black  wood 
with  bits  of  ivory  interspersed,  and 
well  polished,  fixed  by  a  string  drawn 
very  close  through  them ;  or  others 
of  hogs'  teeth,  laid  parallel  to  each 
other,  with  the  concave  part  outward, 
and  the  points  cut  off,  fastened  to- 
gether as  the  former ;  some  of  which, 
made  only  of  large  boars'  tusks,  are 
very  elegant.  The  men  sometimes 
wear  plumes  of  the  tropic  birds' 
feathers  stuck  in  their  heads,  or  those 
of  cocks  fastened  round  neat  polished 
sticks  two  feet  long,  commonly  de- 
corated at  the  lower  part  with  "  oora ;" 
and,  for  the  same  purpose,  the  skin 
of  a  white  dog's  tail  is  sewed  over  a 
stick,  with  its  tuft  at  the  end.  They 
also  frequently  wear  on  the  head 
a  kind  of  ornament  of  a  finger's 
thickness  or  more,  covered  with  red 
and  yellow  feathers,  cui'iously  varied, 
and  tied  behind ;  and  on  the  arm, 
above  the  elbow,  a  kind  of  broad 
shell-work  grounded  upon  net-work. 
The  men  are  frequently  punctured, 
though  not  in  any  particular  part,  as 
the  Otaheiteans  and  those  of  Tonga- 
taboo.  Sometimes  there  are  a  few 
marks  upon  their  hands  or  arms, 
and  near  the  groin;  but  frequently 
we  could  observe  none  at  all,  though 
a  few  individuals  had  more  of  this 
sort  of  ornament  than  we  had  usually 
seen  at  other  places,  and  ingeniously 
executed  in  a  great  variety  of  lines 
and  figures  on  the  arms  and  forepart 
of  the  body,  on  which  latter  some  of 
them  had  the  figure  of  the  "  taame," 
or  breastplate  of  Otaheite,  though  we 
did  not  meet  with  the  thing  itself 
amongst  them. 

Though  they  seem  to  have  adopted 
the  mode  of  living  in  villages,  there 
is  no  appearance  of  defence  or  fortifi- 
cation near  any  of  them  ;  and  the 
houses  are  scattered  about  without 
any  order  either  with  respect  to  their 
distances  from  each  other,  or  their 
position  in  any  particular  direction. 
Neither  is  there  any  proportion  as  to 
their  size ;  some  being  large  and  com- 
modious, from  forty  to  fifty  feet  long 
and  twenty  or  thirty  broad,  while 
others  of  them  are  mere  hovels.  Their 


236 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.     [VoY.III.  B.III.Cn.XIl 


figure  is  not  unlike  oblong  corn  or 
hay  stacks ;  or  perhaps  a  better  idea 
may  be  conceived  of  them  if  we  sup- 
pose the  roof  of  a  barn  placed  on  the 
ground  in  such  a  manner  as  to  form 
a  high,  acute  ridge,  with  two  very 
low  sides  hardly  discernible  at  a  dis- 
tance. The  gable  at  each  end,  cor- 
responding to  the  sides,  makes  these 
habitations  perfectly  close  all  round ; 
and  they  are  well  thatched  with  long 
grass,  which  is  laid  on  slender  poles, 
disposed  with  some  regularity.  The 
entrance  is  made  indifferently  in  the 
end  or  side,  and  is  an  oblong  hole  so 
low  that  one  must  rather  creep  than 
walk  in,  and  is  often  shut  up  by  a 
board  of  planks  fastened  together, 
which  serves  as  a  door,  but  having 
no  hinges,  must  be  removed  occa- 
sionally. No  light  enters  the  house 
but  by  this  opening ;  and  though 
such  close  habitations  may  afford  a 
comfortable  retreat  in  bad  weather, 
they  seem  but  ill-adapted  to  the 
warmth  of  the  climate.  They  are, 
however,  kept  remarkably  clean,  and 
their  floors  are  covered  with  a  large 
quantity  of  dried  grass,  over  which 
they  spread  mats  to  sit  and  sleep 
upon.  At  one  end  stands  a  kind  of 
bench  about  three  feet  high,  on  which 
their  household  utensils  are  placed. 
The  catalogue  is  not  long.  It  con- 
sists of  gourd-shells,  which  they  con- 
vert into  vessels  that  serve  as  bottles 
to  hold  water,  and  as  baskets  to  con- 
tain their  victuals  and  other  things, 
with  covers  of  the  same  ;  and  of  a 
few  wooden  bowls  and  trenchers  of 
different  sizes.  Judging  from  what 
Ave  saw  growing,  and  from  what  was 
brought  to  market,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  the  greatest  part  of  their 
vegetable  food  consists  of  sweet  pota- 
toes, '*  taro,"  and  plantains,  and  that 
bread-fruit  and  yams  are  rather  to  be 
esteemed  rarities.  Of  animal  food 
they  can  be  in  no  want,  as  they  have 
abundance  of  hogs,  which  run  without 
restraint  about  the  houses ;  and  if 
they  eat  dogs,  which  is  not  improb- 
able, their  stock  of  these  seemed  to 
be  very  considerable.  The  great 
number  of  fishing-hooks  found  among 
them  showed  that  they  derive  no  in- 


considerable supply  of  animal  food 
from  the  sea.  But  it  should  seem, 
from  their  practice  of  salting  fish, 
that  the  openness  of  their  coast  often 
interrupts  the  business  of  catching 
them ;  as  it  may  be  naturally  supposed 
that  no  set  of  people  would  ever  think 
of  preserving  quantities  of  food  arti- 
ficially if  they  could  depend  upon  a 
daily  regular  supply  of  it  in  its  fresh 
state.  This  sort  of  reasoning,  how- 
ever, will  not  account  for  their  custom 
of  salting  their  pork  as  well  as  their 
fish,  which  are  preserved  in  gourd- 
shells.  The  salt,  of  which  they  use 
a  great  quantity  for  this  purpose,  is 
of  a  red  colour,  not  very  coarse,  and 
seems  to  be  much  the  same  witli  what 
our  stragglers  found  at  Christmas 
Island.  It  has  its  colour,  doubtless, 
from  a  mixture  of  the  mud  at  the 
bottom  of  the  part  where  it  is  formed  ; 
for  some  of  it  that  had  adhered  in 
lumps  was  of  a  sufficient  whiteness 
and  purity. 

They  bake  their  vegetable  food  with 
heated  stones  as  at  the  Southern  Is- 
lands ;  and  from  the  vast  quantity 
which  we  saw  dressed  at  one  time,  we 
suspected  that  the  whole  village,  or 
at  least  a  considerable  number  of 
people,  joined  in  the  use  of  a  common 
oven.  We  did  not  see  them  dress 
any  animal  food  at  this  island,  but 
Mr  Gore's  party,  as  already  men- 
tioned, had  an  opportunity  of  satis- 
fying themselves  that  it  was  dressed 
in  Oneeheow  in  the  same  sort  of 
ovens,  which  leaves  no  doubt  of  this 
being  also  the  practice  in  Atooi,  es- 
pecially as  we  met  with  no  utensil 
there  that  could  be  applied  to  the 
purpose  of  stewing  or  boiling.  The 
only  artificial  dish  we  met  with  was 
a  "taro"  pudding,  which,  though  a 
disagreeable  mess  from  its  sourness, 
was  greedily  devoured  by  the  natives. 
They  eat  off  a  kind  of  wooden  plates 
or  trenchers ;  and  the  women,  as  far 
as  we  could  judge  from  one  instance, 
if  restrained  from  feeding  at  the  same 
dish  with  the  men,  as  at  Otaheite, 
are  at  least  permitted  to  eat  in  the 
same  place  near  them. 

Their  amusements  seem  pretty  vari- 
ous, for  during  our  stay  several  were 


AMUSEMENTS  OF  THE  NATIVES, 
in  their  diversions. 


FEB.  1778.] 

discovered.  The  dances  at  which 
they  use  the  feathered  cloaks  and 
caps  were  not  seen  ;  but  from  the 
motions  which  they  made  with  their 
hands  on  other  occasions  when  they 
sang,  we  could  form  some  judgment 
that  they  are  in  some  degree  at  least 
similar  to  those  we  had  met  with  at 
the  Southern  Islands,  though  not 
executed  so  skilfully.  Neither  had 
they  amongst  them  either  flutes  or 
reeds ;  and  the  only  two  musical  in- 
struments which  we  observed  were  of 
an  exceedingly  rude  kind.  One  of 
them  does  not  produce  a  melody  ex- 
ceeding that  of  a  child's  rattle.  It 
consists  of  what  may  be  called  a  conic 
cap  inverted,  but  scarcely  hollowed 
at  the  base  above  a  foot  high,  made 
of  a  coarse  sedge-like  plant ;  the  upper 
part  of  which  and  the  edges  are  or- 
namented with  beautiful  red  feathers, 
and  to  the  point  or  lower  part  is  fixed 
a  gourd-shell  larger  than  the  fist.  Into 
this  is  put  something  to  rattle,  which 
is  done  by  holding  the  instrument  by 
the  small  part,  and  shaking  or  rather 
moving  it  from  place  to  place  briskly, 
either  to  different  sides,  or  backward 
and  forward  just  before  the  face,  strik- 
ing the  breast  with  the  other  hand  at 
the  same  time.  The  other  musical 
instrument  (if  either  of  them  deserve 
that  name)  was  a  hollow  vessel  of 
wood  like  a  platter,  combined  with 
the  use  of  two  sticks,  on  which  one 
of  our  gentlemen  saw  a  man  perform- 
ing. He  held  one  of  the  sticks,  about 
two  feet  long,  as  we  do  a  fiddle,  with 
one  hand,  and  struck  it  with  the 
other,  which  was  smaller  and  re- 
sembled a  drumstick,  jn  a  quicker  or 
slower  measure ;  at  the  same  time 
beating  with  his  foot  upon  the  hollow 
vessel  that  lay  inverted  upon  the 
ground,  and  thus  producing  a  tune 
that  was  by  no  means  disagreeable. 
This  music  was  accompanied  by  the 
vocal  performance  of  some  women, 
whose  song  had  a  pleasing  and  tender 
effect.  We  observed  great  numbers 
of  small  polished  rods  about  four  or 
five  feet  long,  somewhat  thicker  than 
the  rammer  of  a  musket,  with  a  tuft 
of  long  white  dogs'  hair  fixed  on  the 
small  end.  These  are  probably  used 


287 

"We  saw  a  person 
take  one  of  them  in  his  hand,  and, 
holding  it  up,  give  a  smart  stroke  till 
he  brought  it  into  a  horizontal  posi- 
tion, striking  with  the  foot  on  the 
same  side  upon  the  ground,  and  with 
his  other  hand  beating  his  breast  at  the 
same  time.  They  play  at  bowls  with 
pieces  of  whetstone  of  about  a  pound 
weight,  shaped  somewhat  like  a  small 
cheese,  but  rounded  at  the  sides  and 
edges,  which  are  very  nicely  polished ; 
and  they  have  other  bowls  of  the 
same  sort,  made  of  a  heavy  reddish 
brown  clay,  neatly  glazed  over  with  a 
composition  of  the  same  colour,  or  of 
a  coarse,  dark  grey  slate.  They  also 
use,  in  the  manner  that  we  throw 
quoits,  small,  flat,  rounded  pieces  ot 
the  writing  slate,  of  the  diameter  of 
the  bowls,  but  scarcely  a  quarter  of 
an  inch  thick,  also  well  polished. 
From  these  circumstances  one  would 
be  induced  to  think  that  their  games 
are  rather  trials  of  skill  than  of 
strength. 

In  every  thing  manufactured  by  these 
people  there  appears  to  be  an  uncom- 
mon degree  of  neatness  and  ingenuity. 
Their  cloth,  which  is  the  principal 
manufacture,  is  made  from  the  Morus 
papyrifera,  and  doubtless  in  the  same 
manner  as  at  Otaheite  and  Tongata- 
boo ;  for  we  bought  some  of  the  grooved 
sticks  with  which  it  is  beaten.  Its 
texture,  however,  though  thicker,  is 
rather  inferior  to  that  of  the  cloth  of 
either  of  the  other  places  ;  but  in 
colouring  or  staining  it  the  people  of 
Atooi  display  a  superiority  of  taste, 
by  the  endless  variation  of  figures 
which  they  execute.  One  would  sup- 
pose, on  seeing  a  number  of  their 
pieces,  that  they  had  borrowed  their 
patterns  from  some  mercer's  shop  in 
which  the  most  elegant  productions 
of  China  and  Europe  are  collected  ; 
besides  some  original  patterns  of  their 
own.  Their  colours,  indeed,  except 
the  red,  are  not  very  bright ;  but  the 
regularity  of  the  figures  and  stripes 
is  truly  surprising,  for,  as  far  as  we 
knew,  they  have  nothing  like  stamps 
or  prints  to  make  the  impressions. 
In  what  manner  they  produce  their 
colours  we  had  not  opportunities 


238 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.     [VoY.III.B.III.CH.m 


of  learning  ^  but  "besides  the  party- 
coloured  sorts  they  have  some  pieces 
of  plain  white  cloth,  and  others  of  a 
single  colour,  particularly  dark  brown 
and  light  blue.  In  general,  the  pieces 
which  they  brought  to  us  were  about 
two  feet  broad,  and  four  or  five  feet 
long,  being  the  form  and  quantity 
that  they  use  for  their  common  dress 
or  "maro  ;"  and  even  these  we  some- 
times found  were  composed  of  pieces 
sewed  together,  an  art  which  we  did 
not  find  to  the  southward,  but  is 
strongly  though  not  very  neatly  per- 
formed here.  There  is  also  a  particu- 
lar sort  that  is  thin,  much  resembling 
oil-cloth ;  and  which  is  actually  either 
oiled  or  soaked  in  some  kind  of  var- 
nish, and  seems  to  resist  the  action  of 
water  pretty  well.  They  fabricate  a 
great  many  white  mats,  which  are 
strong,  with  many  red  stripes,  rhom- 
buses, and  other  figures  interwoven 
on  one  side,  and  often  pretty  large. 
These,  probably,  make  a  part  of  their 
dress  occasionally ;  for  they  put  them 
on  their  backs  when  they  offered  them 
for  sale.  But  they  make  others  coarser, 
plain  and  strong,  which  they  spread 
over  their  floors  to  sleep  upon. 

They  stain  their  gourd-shells  pret- 
tily with  undulated  lines,  triangles, 
and  other  figures  of  a  black  colour, 
instances  of  which  we  saw  practised 
at  New  Zealand.  And  they  seem  to 
possess  the  art  of  varnishing ;  for 
some  of  these  stained  gourd-shells  are 
covered  with  a  kind  of  lacquer  ;  and 
on  other  occasions  they  use  a  strong 
size,  or  gluey  substance,  to  fasten 
their  things  together.  Their  wooden 
dishes  and  bowls,  out  of  which  they 
drink  their  "ava,"areof  the  "etooa" 
tree,  or  cordia,  as  neat  as  if  made  in 
our  turning-lathe,  and  perhaps  better 
polished.  And  amongst  their  articles 
of  handicraft  may  be  reckoned  small 
square  fans  of  mat  or  wicker-work, 
with  handles  tapering  from  them  of 
the  same,  or  of  wood,  which  are  neatly 
wrought  with  small  cords  of  hair  and 
fibres  of  the  cocoa-nut  coir  intermixed. 
The  great  variety  of  fishing-hooks  are 
ingeniously  made ;  some  of  bone, 
others  of  wood  pointed  with  bone, 
and  many  of  pearl  shell.  Of  the  last, 


some  are  like  a  sort  that  we  saw  at  Ton- 
gataboo ;  and  others  simply  curved,  as 
the  common  sort  at  Otaheite,  as  well 
as  the  wooden  ones.  The  bones  are 
mostly  small,  and  composed  of  two 
pieces ;  and  all  the  different  sorts  have 
a  barb,  either  on  the  inside  like  ours, 
or  on  the  outside  opposite  the  same 
part ;  but  others  have  both,  the  outer 
one  being  farthest  from  the  point. 
Of  this  last  sort  one  was  procured, 
nine  inches  l«ng,  of  a  single  piece  of 
bone,  which  doubtless  belonged  to 
some  large  fish.  The  elegant  form 
and  polish  of  this  could  not  certainly 
be  outdone  by  any  European  artist, 
even  if  he  should  add  all  his  know- 
ledge in  design  to  the  number  and 
convenience  of  his  tools.  They  polish 
their  stones  by  constant  friction  with 
pumice-stone  in  water ;  and  such  of 
their  working  instruments  or  tools  as 
I  saw  resembled  those  of  the  Southern 
Islands.  Their  hatchets,  or  rather 
adzes,  were  exactly  of  the  same  pat- 
tern, and  either  made  of  the  same  sort 
of  blackish  stone  or  of  a  clay-coloured 
one.  They  have  also  little  instru- 
ments made  of  a  single  shark's  tooth, 
some  of  which  are  fixed  to  the  fore- 
part of  a  dog's  jaw-bone,  and  others 
to  a  thin  wooden  handle  of  the  same 
shape  ;  and  at  the  other  end  there  is 
a  bit  of  string  fastened  through  a  small 
perforation.  These  serve  as  knives 
occasionally,  and  are  perhaps  used  in 
carving. 

The  only  iron  tools,  or  rather  bits 
of  iron,  seen  amongst  them,  and  which 
they  had  before  our  arrival,  were  a 
piece  of  iron  hoop  about  two  inches 
long,  fitted  into  a  wooden  handle  ;l 
and  another  edge-tool  which  our  people 
guessed  to  be  made  of  the  point  of  a 
broad-sword.  Their  having  the  actual 
possession  of  these,  and  their  so  gene- 
rally knowing  the  use  of  this  metal, 
inclined  some  on  board  to  think  that 
we  had  not  been  the  first  European 
visitors  of  these  islands.  But  it  seems 
to  me  that  the  very  great  surprise  ex- 
pressed by  them  on  seeing  our  ships, 
and  their  total  ignorance  of  the  use  of 


1  Captain  King  purchased  this,  and 
brought  it  to  England. 


FEB.  1778.]    THEIR  KNOWLEDGE  OF  IRON  ACCOUNTED  FOR.    239 


fire-arms,  cannot  be  reconciled  with 
such  a  notion.  There  are  many  ways 
by  which  such  people  may  get  pieces 
of  iron,  or  acquire  the. knowledge  of 
the  existence  of  such  a  metal,  without 
ever  having  had  an  immediate  con- 
nection with  nations  that  use  it.  It 
can  hardly  be  doubted  that  it  was 
unknown  to  all  the  inhabitants  of 
this  sea  before  Magellan  led  the  way 
into  it ;  for  no  discoverer,  immediately 
after  his  voyage,  ever  found  any  of 
this  metal  in  their  possession,  though 
in  the  course  of  our  late  voyages  it 
has  been  observed  that  the  use  of  it 
was  known  at  several  islands  to  which 
no  former  European  ships  had  ever,  as 
far  as  we  know,  found  their  way.  At 
all  the  places  where  Mendana l  touched 
in  his  two  voyages,  it  must  have  been 
seen  and  left ;  and  this  would  extend 
the  knowledge  of  it,  no  doubt,  to  all 
the  various  islands  with  which  those 
whom  he  had  visited  had  any  imme- 
diate intercourse.  It  might  even  be 
carried  farther ;  and  where  specimens 
of  this  article  conld  not  be  procured, 
descriptions  might  in  some  measure 
serve  to  make  it  known  when  after- 
ward seen.  The  next  voyage  to  the 
southward  of  the  Line  in  which  any 
intercourse  was  had  with  the  natives 
of  this  ocean  was  that  of  Quiros,  who 
landed  at  Sagittaria,  the  Island  of 
Handsome  People,  and  Tierra  del 
Espiritu  Santo,2  at  all  which  places, 
and  at  those  with  whom  they  had 
any  communication,  it  must  of  conse- 

1  An  enterprising  Spanish  naviga- 
tor, who  in  the  latter  half  of  the  six- 
teenth century  undertook  two  voyages, 
in  the  first  of  which  he  discovered  the 
Salomon  Islands,  and  in  the  second 
the  Marquesas  and  Queen  Charlotte's 
Islands,  &c. 

2  Quiros  sailed  from  Callao  at  the 
end  of  1605,  in  command  of  four  ships, 
to  plant  a  Spanish  colony  in  Santa 
Cruz,  discovered  by  Mendana.    Sagit- 
taria is  supposed  to  be  Otaheite ;  Tierra 
del  Espiritu  Santo,  which  Quiros  san- 
guinely  mistook  for  part  of  the  long- 
sought   Southern   Continent,    is  the 
group  now  better  known  by  the  name 
Cook  gave  it,  that  of  New  Hebrides. 


quence  have  been  made  known.  To 
him  succeeded  in  this  navigation  Le 
Maire  and  Schouten,3  whose  connec- 
tions with  the  natives  commenced 
much  farther  to  the  eastward,  and 
ended  at  Cocos  and  Horn  Islands.  It 
was  not  surprising  that  when  I  visited 
Tongataboo  in  1773  I  should  find  a 
bit  of  iron  there,  as  we  knew  that 
Tasman  had  visited  it  before  me  ;4 
but  let  us  suppose  that  he  had  never 
discovered  the  Friendly  Islands,  our 
finding  iron  amongst  them  would  have 
occasioned  much  speculation,  though 
we  have  mentioned  before5  the  method 
by  which  they  had  gained  a  renewal 
of  their  knowledge  of  this  metal,  which 
confirms  my  hypothesis.  For  Neeoo- 
tabootaboo,  or  Boscawen's  Island, 
where  Captain  Wallis's  ships  left  it, 
and  from  whence  Poulaho  received  it, 
lies  some  degrees  to  the  north-west  of 
Tongataboo.  It  is  well  known  that 
Roggewein  lost  one  of  his  ships  on  the 
Pernicious  Islands,6  which  from  their 
situation  are  probably  not  unknown 
to,  though  not  frequently  visited  by, 
the  inhabitants  of  Otaheite  and  the 
Society  Islands.  It  is  equally  certain 
that  these  last  people  had  a  know- 
ledge of  iron,  and  purchased  it  with 
the  greatest  avidity,  when  Captain 
Wallis  discovered  Otaheite  ;  and  this 
knowledge  could  only  have  been  ac- 
quired through  the  mediation  of  those 
neighbouring  islands  where  it  had 
been  originally  left.  Indeed  they 
acknowledge  that  this  was  actually 
the  case ;  and  they  have  told  us  since 
that  they  held  it  in  such  estimation 
before  Captain  Wallis's  arrival,  that 
a  chief  of  Otaheite,  who  had  got  two 
nails  into  his  possession,  received  no 
small  emolument  by  letting  out  the 
use  of  these  to  his  neighbours  for  the 
purpose  of  boring  holes  when  their 
own  methods  failed  or  were  thought 
too  tedious.  The  men  of  the  Society 


8  1615-1617. 

*  In  1643. 

5  Ante,  Book  II.,  .Chapter  X.,  p. 
loJ.. 

•  Believed  to  be  the  Palliser's  Isles 
of  English  maps.   The  wreck  happened 
in  1722. 


240 


COOK'S  "V 


Islands,  whom  we  found  at  Wateeoo, 
had  been  driven  thither  long  after  the 
knowledge  and  use  of  iron  had  been 
introduced  amongst  their  country- 
men ;  and  though  probably  they  had 
no  specimen  of  it  with  them,  they 
would  naturally  and  with  ease  com- 
municate at  that  island  their  know- 
ledge of  this  valuable  material  by 
description.  From  the  people  of 
"Wateeoo,  again,  those  of  Hervey's 
Island  might  derive  that  desire  to 
possess  some  of  it,  of  which  we  had 
proofs  during  our  short  intercourse 
with  them.  .  .  . 

The  very  short  and  imperfect  inter- 
course which  we  had  with  the  natives 
put  it  out  of  our  power  to  form  any 
accurate  judgment  of  the  mode  of 
government  established  amongst  them, 
but  from  the  general  resemblance  of 
customs,  and  particularly  from  what 
we  observed  of  the  honours  paid  to 
their  chiefs,  it  seems  reasonable  to 
believe  that  it  is  of  the  same  nature 
with  that  which  prevails  throughout 
all  the  islands  we  had  hitherto  visited, 
and  probably  their  wars  amongst 
themselves  are  equally  frequent.  This 
indeed,  might  be  inferred  from  the 
number  of  weapons  which  we  found 
them  possessed  of,  and  from  the  ex- 
cellent order  these  were  kept  in.  But 
we  had  direct  proof  of  the  fact  from 
their  own  confession,  and  as  we  under- 
stood these  wars  are  between  the  differ- 
ent districts  of  their  own  island,  as  well 
as  between  it  and  their  neighbours  at 
Oneeheow  and  Orrehoua.  We  need 
scarcely  assign  any  other  cause  besides 
this  to  account  for  the  appearance, 
already  mentioned,  of  their  population 
bearing  no  proportion  to  the  extent 
of  their  ground  capable  of  cultivation. 

Besides  their  spears  or  lances,  made 
of  a  fine  chesnut-coloured  wood  beauti- 
fully polished,  some  of  which  are 
barbed  at  one  end  and  flattened  to  a 
point  at  the  other,  they  have  a  sort 
of  weapon  which  we  had  never  seen 
before,  and  not  mentioned  by  any 
navigator  as  used  by  the  natives  of 
the  South  Sea.  It  is  somewhat  like 
a  dagger,  in  general  about  a  foot  and 
a  half  long,  sharpened  at  one  or  both 
pnds,  and  secured  to  the  hand  by  a 


OYAGES.  [YoY.III.  B.HI.CH.XII. 
string.  Its  use  is  to  stab  at  close 
fight,  and  it  seems  well  adapted  to 
the  purpose.  Some  of  these  may  be 
called  double  daggers,  having  a  handle 
in  the  middle,  with  which  they  are 
better  enabled  to  strike  different 
ways.  They  have  also  bows  and 
arrows;  but  both  from  their  appar- 
ent scarcity  and  their  slender  make 
it  may  almost  be  presumed  that  they 
never  use  them  in  battle.  The  kniib 
or  saw  formerly  mentioned,  with 
which  they  dissect  the  dead  bodies, 
may  also  be  ranked  amongst  their 
weapons,  as  they  both  strike  and  cut 
with  it  when  closely  engaged.  It  is 
a  small  flat  wooden  instrument  of  an 
oblong  shape,  about  a  foot  long, 
rounded  at  the  corners,  with  a  handle 
almost  like  one  sort  of  the  "patoos" 
of  New  Zealand;  but  its  edges  are 
entirely  surrounded  with  sharks' 
teeth  strongly  fixed  to  it,  and  point- 
ing outward,  having  commonly  a  hole 
in  the  handle  through  which  passes  a 
long  string  which  is  wrapped  several 
times  round  the  wrist.  We  also  sus- 
pected that  they  use  slings  on  some 
occasions  ;  for  we  got  some  pieces  of 
the  haematites  or  blood-stone,  artifici- 
ally made  of  an  oval  shape,  divided 
longitudinally,  with  a  narrow  groove 
in  the  middle  of  the  convex  part.  To 
this  the  person  who  had  one  of  them 
applied  a  cord  of  no  great  thickness, 
but  would  not  part  with  it,  though 
he  had  no  objection  to  part  with  the 
stone ;  which  must  prove  fatal  when 
thrown  with  any  force  as  it  weighed 
a  pound.  We  likewise  saw  some  oval 
pieces  of  whetstone  well  polished,  but 
somewhat  pointed  toward  each  end, 
nearly  resembling  in  shape  some 
stones  which  we  had  seen  at  New 
Caledonia  in  1774,  and  used  there  in 
their  slings. 

What  we  could  learn  of  their  relig- 
ious institutions,  and  the  manner  of 
disposing  of  their  dead,  which  may 
properly  be  considered  as  closely  con- 
nected, has  been  already  mentioned. 
And  as  nothing  more  strongly  points 
out  the  affinity  between  the  manners 
of  these  people  and  of  the  Friendly 
and  Society  Islands,  I  must  just 
mention  some  other  circumstances  to 


FEB.  1778.]    LANGUAGE  OF  TONGATABOO  AND  OTAHEITE.      241 


place  this  in  a  strong  point  of  view ; 
and  at  the  same  time  to  show  how  a 
few  of  the  infinite  modifications  of 
which  a  few  leading  principles  are 
capable,  may  distinguish  any  particu- 
lar nation.  The  people  of  Tongata- 
boo  inter  their  dead  in  a  very  decent 
manner,  and  they  also  inter  their 
human  sacrifices;  but  they  do  not 
offer  or  expose  any  other  animal  or 
even  vegetable  to  their  gods,  as  far  as 
we  know.  Those  of  Otaheite  do  not 
inter  their  dead,  but  expose  them  to 
waste  by  time  and  putrefaction  though 
the  bones  are  afterward  buried;  and 
as  this  is  the  case,  it  is  very  remark- 
able that  they  should  inter  the  entire 
bodies  of  their  human  sacrifices. 
They  also  offer  other  animals  and 
vegetables  to  their  gods,  but  are  by 
no  means  attentive  to  the  state  of  the 
sacred  places  where  those  solemn 
rites  are  performed;  most  of  their 
"morais"  being  in  a  ruinous  condi- 
tion and  bearing  evident  marks  of 
neglect.  The  people  of  Atooi,  again, 
inter  both  their  common  dead  and 
human  sacrifices  as  at  Tongataboo; 
but  they  resemble  those  of  Otaheite 
in  the  slovenly  state  of  their  religi- 
ous places,  and  in  offering  vegetables 
and  animals  to  their  gods.  The 
"  taboo  "  also  prevails  in  Atooi  in  its 
full  extent,  and  seemingly  with  much 
more  rigour  than  even  at  Tongata- 
boo. For  the  people  here  always 
asked,  with  great  eagerness  and  signs 
of  fear  to  offend,  whether  any  particu- 
lar thing  which  they  desired  to  see, 
or  we  were  unwilling  to  show,  was 
"taboo,"  or,  as  they  pronounced  the 
word,  "tafoo."  The  "maia  raa,"  or 
forbidden  articles,  at  the  Society 
Islands,  though  doubtless  the  same 
thing,  did  not  seem  to  be  so  strictly 
observed  by  them,  except  with  re- 
spect to  the  dead,  about  whom  we 
thought  them  more  superstitious  than 
any  of  the  others  were.  But  these 
are  circumstances  with  which  we  are 
not  as  yet  sufficiently  acquainted  to 
be  decisive  about;  and  I  shall  only 
just  observe,  to  show  the  similitude 
in  other  matters  connected  with  re- 
ligion, that  the  priests  or  "tahounas" 
here,  are  as  numerous  as  at  the  other 


islands,  if  we  may  judge  from  our 
being  able,  during  our  stay,  to  dis- 
tinguish several  saying  their  "poore" 
or  prayer. 

But  whatever  resemblance  we  might 
discover,  in  the  general  manners  of 
the  people  of  Atooi,  to  those  of  Ota- 
heite, these  of  course  were  less  strik- 
ing than  the  coincidence  of  language. 
Indeed,  the  languages  of  both  places 
may  be  said  to  be  almost  word  for 
word  the  same.  It  is  true  that  we 
sometimes  remarked  particular  words 
to  be  pronounced  exactly  as  we  had 
found  at  New  Zealand  and  the 
Friendly  Islands  ;  but  though  all  the 
four  dialects  are  indisputably  the 
same,  these  t  people  in  general  have 
neither  the  strong  guttural  pronunci- 
ation of  the  former,  nor  a  less  degree 
of  it  which  also  distinguishes  the 
latter ;  and  they  have  not  only  adopt- 
ed the  soft  mode  of  the  Otaheiteans 
in  avoiding  harsh  sounds,  but  t~«e 
whole  idiom  of  their  language,  using 
not  only  the  same  affixes  and  suffixes 
to  their  words,  but  the  same  measure 
and  cadence  in  their  songs,  though 
in  a  manner  somewhat  less  agreeable. 
There  seems  indeed,  at  first  hearing, 
some  disagreement  to  the  ear  of  a 
stranger ;  but  it  ought  to  be  con- 
sidered that  the  people  of  Otaheite, 
from  their  frequent  connections  with 
the  English,  had  learned  in  some 
measure  to  adapt  themselves  to  our 
scanty  knowledge  of  their  language, 
by  using  not  only  the  most  common 
but  even  corrupted  expressions  in 
conversation  with  us;  whereas  when 
they  conversed  among  themselves, 
and  used  the  several  parts  necessary 
to  propriety  of  speech,  they  were 
scarcely  at  all  understood  by  those 
amongst  us  who  had  made  the  greatest 
proficiency  in  their  vocabulary. 

How  shall  we  account  for  thia 
nation's  having  spread  itself  in  so 
many  detached  islands  so  widely  dis- 
joined from  each  other  in  every 
quarter  of  the  Pacific  Ocean  ?  We 
find  it  from  New  Zealand  in  the  south 
as  far  as  the  Sandwich  Islands  to  the 
north ;  and,  in  another  direction,  from 
Easter  Island  to  the  Hebrides,  that 
is,  over  an  extent  of  sixty  degrees  of 


242 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.     [VoY.  III.  B.  III.  CH.  XIII. 


latitude  or  1200  leagues  north  and 
south,  and  eighty-three  degrees  of 
longitude  or  1660  leagues  east  and 
west.  How  much  farther  in  either 
direction  its  colonies  reach,  is  not 
known ;  but  what  we  know  already, 
in  consequence  of  this  and  our  former 
voyage,  warrants  our  pronouncing  it 
to  be,  though  perhaps  not  the  most 
numerous,  certainly  by  far  the  most 
extensive  nation  upon  earth. 

Had  the  Sandwich  Islands  been  dis- 
covered at  an  early  period  by  the 
Spaniards,  there  is  little  doubt  that 
they  would  have  taken  advantage  of 
so  excellent  a  situation,  and  have 
made  use  of  Atooi  or  some  other  of 
the  islands  as  a  refreshing-place  for 
the  ships  that  sail  annually  from 
Acapulco  for  Manilla.  They  lie 
almost  midway  between  the  first  place 
and  Guam,  one  of  the  Ladrones,  which 
is  at  present  their  only  port  in  tra- 
versing this  vast  ocean  ;  and  it  would 
Hot  have  been  a  week's  sail  out  of 
their  common  route  to  have  touched 
at  them,  which  could  have  been  done 
without  running  the  least  hazard  of 
losing  the  passage,  as  they  are  suffi- 
ciently within  the  verge  of  the  easterly 
trade-wind.  An  acquaintance  with 
the  Sandwich  Islands  would  have 
been  equally  favourable  to  our  Buc- 
caneers, who  used  sometimes  to  pass 
from  the  coast  of  America  to  the 
Ladrones  with  a  stock  of  food  and 
water  scarcely  sufficient  to  preserve 
life.1  Here  they  might  always  have 
found  plenty,  and  have  been  within 
a  month's  sure  sail  of  the  very  part 
of  California  which  the  Manilla  ship 
is  obliged  to  make,2  or  else  have  re- 
turned to  the  coast  of  America, 
thoroughly  refitted,  after  an  absence 
of  two  months.  How  happy  would 
Lord  Anson  have  been,  and  what 
hardships  would  he  have  avoided,  if 
he  had  known  that  there  was  a  group 
of  islands  half  way  between  America 
and  Tinian,  where  all  his  wants  could 

1  "Witness  Dampier's  description  of 
the  weary  and  perilous  passage, 

*  Cape  San  Lucas,  the  southernmost 
point. 


have  been  effectually  supplied,  and 
in  describing  which  the  elegant  his- 
torian of  that  voyage  would  have  pre- 
sented his  reader  with  a  more  agree- 
able picture  than  I  have  been  able  to 
draw  in  this  Chapter?3 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

AFTER  the  Discovery  had  joined  us, 
we  stood  away  to  the  northward, 
close  hauled,  with  a  gentle  gale  from 
the  east.  On  the  7th,  being  in  the 
Latitude  of  29°  N.,  and  in  the  Longi- 
tude of  200°  E.,  the  wind  veered  to 
SE.  This  enabled  us  to  steer  NE. 
and  E.,  which  course  we  continued 
till  the  12th,  when  the  wind  had 
veered  round  by  the  S.  and  W.  to 
NE.  and  ENE.  I  then  tacked  and 
stood  to  the  northward,  our  Latitude 
being  30°  N.,  and  our  Longitude  206° 
15'  E.  Notwithstanding  our  advanced 
latitude,  and  its  being  the  white- 
season,  we  had  only  begun  for  a  few 
days  past  to  feel  a  sensation  of  cold 
in  the  mornings  and  evenings.  This 
is  a  sign  of  the  equal  and  lasting  in- 
fluence of  the  sun's  heat  at  all  seasons 
to  30"  on  each  side  the  Line.  The 
disproportion  is  known  to  become 
very  great  after  that.  This  must  be 
attributed  almost  entirely  to  the  direc- 
tion of  the  rays  of  the  sun,  independ- 
ent of  the  bare  distance,  which  is  by 
no  means  equal  to  the  effect. 

On  the  19th,  being  now  in  the 
Latitude  of  37°  K,  and  in  the  Longi- 
tude of  206°  E.,  the  wind  veered  to 
SE. ;  and  I  was  enabled  again  to 
steer  to  the  E.,  inclining  to  the  N. 


s  With  all  deference  to  Mr  Walter, 
the  Narrator  of  Anson's  voyage — or 
to  Captain  Cook's  self-humbling  esti- 
mate of  his  own  performance,  we 
think  most  will  prefer  the  plain  un- 
varnished tale,  full  of  new  and  in- 
teresting facts,  told  by  the  unlettered 
sailor  to  the  eloquent  flourishes  of  the 
Centurion's  Chaplain,  whose  glowing 
descriptions  of  Tinian  were  sadly  dis- 
credited by  the  subsequent  experience 
and  report  of  practical,  prosaic  men. 


MAR.  1778.]    PROSECUTION  OF  VOYAGE  NORTHWARD. 


243 


We  had  on  the  25th  reached  the 
Latitude  of  42°  30'  and  the  Longitude 
of  219°,  and  then  we  began  to  meet 
with  the  rock-weed  mentioned  hy  the 
writer  of  Lord  Anson's  voyage,  under 
the  name  of  sea-leek,  which  the  Man- 
illa ships  generally  fall  in  with.  Now 
and  then  a  piece  of  wood  also  appeared ; 
but  if  we  had  not  known  that  the 
Continent  of  North  America  was  not 
far  distant,  we  might,  from  the  few 
signs  of  the  vicinity  of  land  hitherto 
met  with,  have  concluded  that  there 
was  none  within  some  thousand  leagues 
of  us.  We  had  hardly  seen  a  bird  or 
any  other  oceanic  animal  since  we  left 
the  Sandwich  Islands. 

On  the  1st  of  March,  our  Latitude 
being  now  44°  49'  N.,  and  our  Longi- 
tude 228"  E.,  we  had  one  calm  day. 
This  was  succeeded  by  a  wind  from 
the  north,  with  which  I  stood  to  the 
east,  close  hauled,  in  order  to  make 
the  land.  According  to  the  charts,  it 
ought  not  to  have  been  far  from  us. 
It  was  remarkable  that  we  should  still 
be  attended  with  such  moderate  and 
mild  weather  so  far  to  the  northward, 
and  so  near  the  coast  of  an  extensive 
continent,  at  this  time  of  the  year. 
The  present  season  either  must  be  un- 
common for  its  mildness,  or  we  can 
assign  no  reason  why  Sir  Francis 
Drake  should  have  met  with  such 
severe  cold  about  this  latitude  in  the 
month  of  June.3  Viscaino,  indeed, 
who  was  near  the  same  place  in  the 
depth  of  winter,3  says  little  of  the 


8  Cook  even  understates  the  case 
against  his  own  experience,  for  it  was 
only  in  the  Latitude  of  38°  30'  N.  that 
Drake  found  the  "convenient  and  fit 
harbour,"  where  he  continued  from 
the  17th  of  June  till  the  23d  day  of 
July  1579,  "during  all  which  time  we 
were  constantly  visited  with  like  nip- 
ping colds  as  we  had  never  felt  before  " 
— more  intense  than  some  of  his 
people  had  felt  at  Wardhys,  in  72°, 
not  at  the  height  of  summer,  but  at 
the  end  of  it.  See  ante,  pp.  73,  75. 

*  Sent  from  Acapulco  in  May  1602 
to  search  the  Californian  coast  for  a 
secure  harbour  in  which  the  galleons 


cold,  and  speaks  of  a  ridge  of  snowy 
mountains  somewhere  on  the  coast  as 
a  thing  rather  remarkable.  Our  see- 
ing so  few  birds  in  comparison  of 
what  we  met  with  in  the  same  lati- 
tudes to  the  south  of  the  Line,  is 
another  singular  circumstance,  which 
must  either  proceed  from  a  scarcity  of 
the  different  sorts  or  from  a  deficiency 
of  places  to  rest  upon.  From  hence 
we  may  conclude  that  beyond  40°  in 
the  southern  hemisphere  the  species 
are  much  more  numerous,  and  the 
isles  where  they  inhabit  also  more 
plentifully  scattered  about  than  any- 
where between  the  coast  of  California 
and  Japan  in  or  near  that  latitude. 

During  a  calm  on  the  morning  of 
the  2d,  some  parts  of  the  sea  seemed 
covered  with  a  kind  of  slime,  and 
some  small  sea  animals  were  swim- 
ming about,  the  most  conspicuous  of 
which  were  of  the  gelatinous  or 
Medusa  kind,  almost  globular  ;  and 
another  sort  smaller,  that  had  a  white 
or  shining  appearance,  and  were  very 
numerous.  Some  of  these  last  were 
taken  up  and  put  into  a  glass  cup 
with  some  salt  water,  in  which  they 
appeared  like  small  scales  or  bits  of 
silver  when  at  rest  in  a  prone  situa- 
tion. When  they  began  to  swim 
about,  which  they  did  with  equal 
ease  upon  their  back,  sides,  or  belly, 
they  emitted  the  brightest  colours  of 
the  most  precious  gems,  according  to 
their  position  with  respect  to  the 
light.  Sometimes  they  appeared  quite 
pellucid,  at  other  times  assuming 
various  tints  of  blue,  from  a  pale 
sapphirine  to  a  deep  violet  colour, 
which  were  frequently  mixed  with  a 
ruby  or  opaline  redness,  and  glowed 
with  a  strength  sufficient  to  illuminate 
the  vessel  and  water.  These  colours 
appeared  most  vivid  when  the  glass 
was  held  to  a  strong  light,  and  mostly 
vanished  on  the  subsiding  of  the  ani- 
mals to  the  bottom,  when  they  had  a 
brownish  cast.  But  with  candle  light 
the  colour  was  chiefly  a  beautiful 
pale  green,  tinged  with  a  burnished 
glass  ;  and  in  the  dark  it  had  a  faint 


might  find  refuge.  The  settlement  and 
fortification  of  Monterey  was  the  result. 


244 

appearance  of  glowing  fire.  They 
proved  to  be  a  new  species  of  Oniscus, 
and  from  their  properties  were  by  Mr 
Anderson  (to  whom  we  owe  this  ac- 
count of  them)  called  Oniscus  fufy 'ens, 
being  probably  an  animal  which  has 
a  share  in  producing  some  sorts  of 
that  lucid  appearance  often  observed 
near  ships  at  sea  in  the  night.  On 
the  same  day  two  large  birds  settled 
on  the  water  near  the  ship.  One  of 
these  was  the  Procellaria  maxima 
(the  ' '  quebrantahuesos  " 1),  and  the 
other,  which  was  little  more  than  half 
the  size,  seemed  to  be  of  the  albatross 
kind.  The  upper  part  of  .the  wings 
and  tip  of  the  tail  were  black,  with 
the  rest  white  ;  the  bill  yellowish  ; 
upon  the  whole  not  unlike  the  sea- 
gull, though  larger. 

On  the  6th  at  noon,  being  in  the 
Latitude  of  44°  10'  N.  and  the  Longi- 
tude of  2344°  E.,  we  saw  two  sails 
and  several  whales  ;  and  at  daybreak 
the  next  morning  the  long-looked-for 
coast  of  New  Albion2  was  seen,  ex- 
tending from  NE.  to  SE.,  distant  ten 
or  twelve  leagues.  At  noon  our  Lati- 
tude was  44  33'  N.  and  our  Longi- 
tude 235°  20'  E. ;  and  the  land  ex- 
tended from  NE.  half  N.  to  SE.  by 
S.,  about  eight  leagues  distant.  In 
this  situation  we  had  seventy-three 
fathoms  water  over  a  muddy  bottom, 
and  about  a  league  farther  off  found 
ninety  fathoms.  The  land  appeared 
to  be  of  a  moderate  height,  diversified 
with  hills  and  valleys,  and  almost 
everywhere  covered  with  wood.  There 
was,  however,  no  very  striking  object 
on  any  part  of  it  except  one  hill, 
whose  elevated  summit  was  Hat.  This 
bore  east  from  us  at  noon.  At  the 
northern  extreme  the  land  formed  a 
point,  which  I  called  Cape  Foul- 
weather,  from  the  very  bad  weather 
that  we  soon  after  met  with.  I  judge 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.    [VoY.  III.  B.  III.  CH.  XIII. 


1  The  Spanish  name  for  the  sea- 
eagle,  or  osprey ;  literally,  "  the  bone- 
breaker;"  Latin,  "  ossifrago,"  so 
called  from  the  great  strength  of  its 
beak. 

8  This  part  of  the  west  side  of  North 
America  was  so  named  by  Sir  Francis 
Drake  in  1579. 


it  to  lie  in  the  Latitude  of  44°  55'  N. 
and  in  the  Longitude  of  235°  54'  E. 

We  had  variable  light  airs  and 
calms  till  8  o'clock  in  the  evening, 
when  a  breeze  sprung  up  at  S\V. 
With  it  1  stood  to  the  NW.  under 
an  easy  sail,  waiting  for  daylight  to 
range  along  the  coast.  But  at  four 
next  morning  the  wind  shifted  to 
NW.,  and  blew  in  squalls,  with  rain. 
Our  course  was  NE.  till  near  10 
o'clock,  when,  finding  that  I  could 
make  no  progress  on  this  tack,  and 
seeing  nothing  like  a  harbour,  I  tacked 
and  stood  off  SW.  At  this  time 
Cape  Foul  weather  bore  NE.  by  N., 
about  eight  leagues  distant.  Towards 
noon  the  wind  veered  more  to  the  W., 
and  the  weather  became  fair  arid  clear, 
so  that  we  were  enabled  to  make  lunar 
observations.  Having  reduced  all 
those  that  we  had  made  since  the  19th 
of  last  month  to  the  present  ones,  by 
the  time-keeper,  amounting  in  the 
whole  to  seventy-two  sets,  their  mean 
result  determined  the  Longitude  to 
be  235°  15'  26"  E.,  which  was  14'  11" 
less  than  what  the  time-keeper  gave. 
This  longitude  is  made  use  of  foi 
settling  that  of  the  coast,  and  I  have 
not  a  doubt  of  its  being  within  a  very 
few  miles  of  the  truth. 

Our  difficulties  now  began  to  in- 
crease. In  the  evening  the  wind 
came  to  the  NW.,  blowing  in  squalls, 
with  hail  and  sleet ;  and  the  weather 
being  thick  and  hazy,  I  stood  out  to 
sea  till  near  noon  the  next  day,  when 
I  tacked  and  stood  in  again  for  the 
land,  which  made  its  appearance  at 
two  in  the  afternoon,  bearing  ENE. 
The  wind  and  weather  continued  the 
same,  but  in  the  evening  the  former 
veered  more  to  the  W.,  and  the  latter 
grew  worse,  which  made  it  necessary 
to  tack  and  stand  off  till  four  the 
next  morning,  when  I  ventured  to 
stand  in  again.  At  four  in  the  after- 
noon we  saw  the  land,  which  at  six 
extended  from  NE.  half  E.  to  SE.  by 
S.,  about  eight  leagues  distant.  In 
this  situation  we  tacked  and  sounded, 
but  a  line  of  160  fathoms  did  not 
reach  the  ground.  I  stood  off  till 
midnight,  then  stood  in  again  ;  and 
at  half-past  six  we  were  within  three 


MAR.  1778.]       APPEARANCE  OF 

leagues  of  the  land,  which  extended 
from  N.  by  E.  half  E.  to  S.  half  E., 
each  extreme  about  seven  leagues  dis- 
tant. Seeing  no  signs  of  a  harbour, 
and  the  weather  being  still  unsettled, 
I  tacked  and  stretched  off  SW.,  having 
then  fifty-five  fathoms  of  water  over  a 
muddy  bottom. 

That  part  of  the  land  which  we  were 
so  near  when  we  tacked  is  of  a  moder- 
ate height,  though  in  some  places  it 
rises  higher  within.  It  was  diversified 
with  a  great  many  rising  grounds  and 
small  hills,  many  of  which  were  en- 
tirely covered  with  tall  straight  trees, 
and  others,  which  were  lower,  and 
grew  in  spots  like  coppices  ;  but  the 
interspaces  and  sides  of  many  of  the 
rising  grounds  were  clear.  The  whole, 
though  it  might  make  an  agreeable 
summer  prospect,  had  now  an  un- 
comfortable appearance,  as  the  bare 
grounds  toward  the  coast  were  all 
covered  with  snow,  which  seemed  to 
be  of  a  considerable  depth  between 
the  little  hills  and  rising  grounds, 
and  in  several  places  towards  the  sea 
might  easily  have  been  mistaken  at  a 
distance  for  white  cliffs.  The  snow 
on  the  rising  grounds  was  thinner 
spread,  and  farther  inland  there  was 
no  appearance  of  any;  from  whence 
we  might  perhaps  conclude  that  what 
we  saw  towards  the  sea  had  fallen 
during  the  night,  which  was  colder 
than  any  we  had  experienced  since 
our  arrival  on  the  coast,  and  we  had 
sometimes  a  kind  of  sleet.  The  coast 
seemed  everywhere  almost  straight, 
without  any  opening  or  inlet ;  and  it 
appeared  to  terminate  in  a  kind  of 
white  sandy  beach,  though  some  on 
board  thought  that  appearance  was 
owing  to  the  snow.  Each  extreme  of 
the  land  that  was  now  before  us  seemed 
to  shoot  out  into  a  point.  The  north- 
ern one  was  the  same  which  we  had 
first  seen  on  the  7th,  and  on  that 
account  I  called  it  Cape  Perpetua.  It 
lies  in  the  Latitude  of  44°  6'  N.  and 
in  the  Longitude  of  235°  52'  E.  The 
southern  extreme  before  us  I  named 
Cape  Gregory.1  Its  Latitude  is  43° 


AMERICAN  COAST. 


245 


1  In  the  English  calendar  the  7th 
of  March  is  distinguished  by  the  name 


30'  N.  and  its  Longitude  235°  57'  E., 
It  is  a  remarkable  point,  the  land  of 
it  rising  almost  directly  from  the  sea 
to  a  tolerable  height,  while  that  on. 
each  side  of  it  is  low. 

I  continued  standing  off  till  one  in 
the  afternoon.  Then  I  tacked  and 
stood  in,  hoping  to  have  the  wind  off 
from  the  land  in  the  night.  But  in 
this  I  was  mistaken  ;  for  at  5  o'clock 
it  began  to  veer  to  the  "W.  and  SW., 
which  obliged  me,  once  more,  to  stand 
out  to  sea.  At  this  time  Cape  Per- 
petua bore  NE.  by  N.  ;  and  the  far- 
thest land  we  could  see  to  the  south  of 
Cape  Gregory  bore  S.  by  E.,  perhaps 
ten  or  twelve  leagues  distant.  If  I 
am  right  in  this  estimation,  its  Lati- 
tude will  be  43°  10'  N.  and  its  Longi- 
tude  235°  55'  E.,  which  is  nearly  the 
situation  of  Cape  Blanco  discovered 
or  seen  by  Martin  d'Aguilar  on  the 
19th  of  January  1603.  It  is  worth 
observing  that  in  the  very  latitude 
where  we  now  were  geographers  have 
been  pleased  to  place  a  large  entrance 
or  strait,  the  discovery  of  which  they 
take  upon  them  to  ascribe  to  the  same 
navigator ;  whereas  nothing  more  is 
mentioned  in  the  account  of  his  voy- 
age than  his  having  seen,  in  this  situa- 
tion, a  large  river  which  he  would 
have  entered,  but  was  prevented  by 
the  currents. 

The  wind,  as  I  have  observed,  had 
veered  to  the  SW.  in  the  evening ; 
but  it  was  very  unsettled,  and  blew 
in  squalls,  with  snow  showers.  In 
one  of  these,  at  midnight,  it  shifted 
at  once  to  WN  W. ,  and  soon  increased 
to  a  very  hard  gale,  with  heavy  squalls, 
attended  with  sleet  or  snow.  There 
was  no  choice  now  ;  and  we  were 
obliged  to  stretch  to  the  southward  in 
order  to  get  clear  of  the  coast.  This 
was  done  under  courses  and  two  close- 
reefed  topsails,  being  rather  more  sail 
than  the  ships  could  safely  bear ;  but 
it  was  necessary  to  carry  it  to  avoid  the 
more  pressing  danger  of  being  forced 
on  shore.  This  gale  continued  till 
8  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the  13th; 
when  it  abated,  and  I  stood  in  again 

of  Perpetua  M.,  and  the  12th  by  that 
of  Gregory  B. 


246 

for  the  land.  "We  had  been  forced  a 
considerable  way  backward ;  for  at  the 
time  of  our  tacking  we  were  in  the 
Latitude  of  42°  45'  and  in  the  Longi- 
tude of  233°  30'.  The  wind  continued 
at  W.  and  NW.,  storms,  moderate 
weather,  and  calms,  succeeding  each 
other  by  turns  till  the  morning  of  the 
21st ;  when,  after  a  few  hours'  calm, 
a  breeze  sprung  up  at  SW.  This 
bringing  with  it  fair  weather,  I  steer- 
ed NE.  in  order  to  fall  in  with  the 
land  beyond  that  part  of  it  where  we 
had  already  so  unprofitably  been  tossed 
about  for  the  last  fortnight.  In  the 
evening  the  wind  veered  to  the  west- 
ward ;  and  at  8  o'clock  the  next  morn- 
ing we  saw  the  land,  extending  from 
NE.  to  E.  nine  leagues  distant.  At 
this  time  we  were  in  the  Latitude  of 
47°  5'  N.  and  in  the  Longitude  of  235° 
10' E. 

I  continued  to  stand  to  the  north 
with  a  fine  breeze  at  W.  and  WNW, 
till  near  7  o'clock  in  the  evening, 
when  I  tacked  to  wait  for  daylight. 
At  this  time  we  were  in  forty-eight 
fathoms  water,  and  about  four  leagues 
from  the  land,  which  extended  from 
N.  to  SE.  half  E.,  and  a  small  round 
hill,  which  had  the  appearance  of 
being  an  island,  bore  N.  three-quar- 
ters E.,  distant  six  or  seven  leagues, 
as  I  guessed  ;  it  appears  to  be  of  a 
tolerable  height,  and  was  but  just  to 
be  seen  from  the  deck.  Between  this 
island  or  rock,  and  the  northern  ex- 
treme of  the  land,  there  appeared  to 
be  a  small  opening,  which  flattered 
us  with  the  hopes  of  finding  a  har- 
bour. These  hopes  lessened  as  we 
drew  nearer,  and  at  last  we  had  some 
reason  to  think  that  the  opening  was 
closed  by  low  land.  On  this  account 
I  called  the  point  of  land  to  the  north 
of  it  Cape  Flattery.  It  lies  in  the 
Latitude  of  48°  15'  N.,  and  in  the 
Longitude  of  235°  3'  E.  There  is  a 
round  hill  of  a  moderate  height  over 
it,  and  all  the  land  upon  this  part  of 
the  coast  is  of  a  moderate  and  pretty 
equal  height,  well  covered  with  wood, 
and  had  a  very  pleasant  and  fertile 
appearance.  It  is  in  this  very  latitude 
where  we  now  were,  that  geographers 
have  placed  the  pretended  Strait  of 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.    [YoY.III.B.III.CH.XIIL 


Juan  de  Fuca.  We  saw  nothing  like 
it,  nor  is  there  the  least  probability 
that  ever  any  such  thing  existed.1  I 
stood  off  to  the  southward  till  night, 
when  I  tacked  and  steered  to  the 
NW.  witli  a  gentle  breeze  at  SW., 
intending  to  stand  in  for  the  land  as 
soon  as  daylight  should  appear.  But 
by  that  time  we  were  reduced  to  two 
courses  and  close-reefed  topsails,  hav- 
ing a  very  hard  gale,  with  rain,  right 
on  shore ;  so  that,  instead  of  running 
in  for  the  land,  I  was  glad  to  get  an 
offing,  or  to  keep  that  which  we  had 
already  got.  The  SW.  wind  was, 
however,  but  of  short  continuance, 
for  in  the  evening  it  veered  again  to 
the  W.  Thus  we  had  perpetually 
strong  W.  and  NW.  winds  to  encoun- 
ter. Sometimes  in  an  evening  the 
wind  would  become  moderate  and 
veer  to  the  southward  ;  but  this  was 
always  a  sure  prelude  to  a  storm, 
which  blew  the  hardest  at  SSE.,  and 
was  attended  with  rain  and  sleet.  It 
seldom  lasted  above  four  or  six  hours 
before  it  was  succeeded  by  another 
gale  from  the  NW.,  which  generally 
brought  with  it  fair  weather.  It  was 
by  the  means  of  these  southerly  blasts 
that  we  were  enabled  to  get  to  the 
NW.  at  all. 

At  length,    at   9   o'clock  in    the 
morning  of  the   29th,    as   we  were 


1  Cook  here  lent  himself  too  readily 
to  the  undiscriminating  condemna- 
tion of  the  romancing  Cephalonian's 
marvellous  tales  about  a  strait  or 
channel  which  he  entered  in  this 
latitude,  emerging  after  a  prolonged 
navigation,  into  the  Atlantic.  There 
is  now  little  doubt  that  Juan  de  Fuca 
really  discovered,  and  partly  explored 
the  Strait  that  bears  his  name,  and 
that  Cook  credulously,  and  with  quite 
unusual  lack  of  enterprise  passed 
lightly  by.  At  all  events,  the  chan- 
nel bears  at  this  day  the  name  of  the 
Greco-Spanish  navigator ;  and  the 
recent  arbitration  (1872)  by  the  Ger- 
man Emperor  on  the  San  Juan  dis- 
pute with  America  has  rendered  its 
name  not  quite  pleasantly  familiar  to 
many  English  folk  who  never  heard 
of  it  before. 


MAR.  1778.] 


BEHAVIOUR  OF  THE  NATIVES. 


247 


standing  to  the  NE. ,  we  again  saw 
the  land,  which,  at  noon,  extended 
from  NW.  by  W.  to  ESE.,  the 
nearest  part  about  six  leagues  distant. 
Our  Latitude  was  now  49°  29'  N.,  and 
our  Longitude  232°  29'  E.  The  ap- 
pearance of  the  country  differed  much 
from  that  of  the  parts  which  we  had 
before  seen,  being  full  of  high  moun- 
tains, whose  summits  were  covered 
with  snow.  But  the  valleys  between 
them,  and  the  grounds  on  the  sea 
coast,  high  as  well  as  low,  were 
covered  to  a  considerable  breadth 
with  high,  straight  trees,  that  formed 
a  beautiful  prospect  as  of  one  vast 
forest.  The  SE.  extreme  of  the 
land  formed  a  low  point,  off  which 
are  many  breakers,  occasioned  by 
sunken  rocks.  On  this  account  it 
was  called  Point  Breakers.  It  lies  in 
the  Latitude  of  49°  15'  N.,  and  in  the 
Longitude  of  233°  20'  E.,  and  the 
other  extreme  in  about  the  Latitude 
of  50°  and  the  Longitude  of  232°.  I 
named  this  last  Woody  Point.  It 
projects  pretty  much  out  to  the  SW., 
and  is  high  land.  Between  these  two 
points  the  shore  forms  a  large  bay, 
which  I  called  Hope  Bay,  hoping  from 
the  appearance  of  the  land  to  find  in 
it  a  good  harbour.  The  event  proved 
that  we  were  not  mistaken. 

As  we  drew  nearer  the  coast,  we 
perceived  the  appearance  of  two  inlets; 
one  in  the  NW.,  and  the  other  in  the 
NE.  corner  of  the  bay.  As  I  could 
not  fetch  the  former,  I  bore  up  to  the 
latter,  and  passed  some  breakers  or 
sunken  rocks  that  lay  a  league  or 
more  from  the  shore.  We  had  nine- 
teen and  twenty  fathoms ^water  half- 
a-league  without  them  ;  but  as  soon 
as  we  had  passed  them,  the  depth 
increased  to  thirty,  forty,  and  fifty 
fathoms,  with  a  sandy  bottom  ;  and 
farther  in  we  found  no  bottom  with 
the  greatest  length  of  line.  Not- 
withstanding appearances,  we  were 
not  yet  sure  that  there  were  any 
inlets  ;  but,  as  we  were  in  a  deep 
bay,  I  resolved  to  anchor,  with  a 
view  to  endeavour  to  get  some  water, 
of  which  by  this  time  we  were  in  great 
want.  At  length,  as  we  advanced, 
the  existence  of  the  inlet  was  no  longer 


doubtful.  At  5  o'clock  we  reached 
the  west  point  of  it,  where  we  weie 
becalmed  for  some  time.  While  in 
this  situation  I  ordered  all  the  boats 
to  be  hoisted  out  to  tow  the  ships  in. 
But  this  was  hardly  done  before  a 
fresh  breeze  sprung  up  again  at  NW., 
with  which  we  were  enabled  to  stretch 
up  into  an  arm  of  the  inlet  that  was 
observed  by  us  to  run  in  to  the  north- 
east. There  we  were  again  becalmed, 
and  obliged  to  anchor  in  eighty-five 
fathoms  water,  and  so  near  the  shore 
as  to  reach  it  with  a  hawser.  The 
wind  failed  the  Discovery  before  she 
got  within  the  arm,  where  she  anchor- 
ed, and  found  only  seventy  fathoms. 
We  no  sooner  drew  near  the  inlet 
than  we  found  the  coast  to  be  in- 
habited ;  and  at  the  place  where  we 
were  first  becalmed  three  canoes  came 
off  to  the  ship.  In  one  of  these  were 
two  men,  in  another  six,  and  in  the 
third  ten.  Having  come  pretty  neai 
us,  a  person  in  one  of  the  two  last 
stood  up  and  made  a  long  harangue, 
inviting  us  to  land,  as  we  guessed  bj 
his  gestures.  At  the  same  time  hi 
kept  strewing  handfuls  of  feather 
towards  us;1  and  some  of  his  com 
panions  threw  handfuls  of  red  dust 
or  powder  in  the  same  manner.  The 
person  who  played  the  orator  wore 
the  skin  of  some  animal,  and  held 
in  each  hand  something  which  rattled 
as  he  kept  shaking  it.  After  tiring 
himself  with  his  repeated  exhorta- 
tions, of  which  we  did  not  under- 
stand a  word,  he  was  quiet ;  and  then 
others  took  it  by  turns  to  say  some- 
thing, though  they  acted  their  part 
neither  so  long  nor  with  so  much 
vehemence  as  the  other.  We  observed 
that  two  or  three  had  their  hair  quite 
strewed  over  with  small  white  feathers, 
and  others  had  large  ones  stuck  into 
different  parts  of  the  head.  After  the 
tumultuous  noise  had  ceased,  they 
lay  at  a  little  distance  from  the  ship, 
and  conversed  with  each  other  in  a 
very  easy  manner  ;  nor  did  they  seem 


1  The  natives  of  this  coast  twelve 
degrees  farther  south,  also  brought 
feathers  as  presents  to  Sir  Francis 
Drake  on  his  arrival. 


248 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.         [VoY.  III.  B.  IV.  CH.  I. 


to  show  the  least  surprise  or  distrust. 
Some  of  them  now  and  then  got  up 
and  said  something  after  the  manner 
of  their  first  harangues ;  and  one  sung 
a  very  agreeable  air,  with  a  degree  of 
softness  and  melody  which  we  could 
not  have  expected,  the  word  "haela" 
being  often  repeated  as  the  burden  of 
the  song.  The  breeze  which  soon  after 
sprung  up  bringing  us  nearer  to  the 
shore,  the  canoes  began  to  come  off  in 
greater  numbers  ;  and  we  had  at  one 
time  thirty- two  of  them  near  the  ship, 
carrying  from  three  to  seven  or  eight 
persons  each,  both  men  and  women. 
Several  of  these  stood  up  in  their  canoes 
haranguing  and  making  gestures  after 
the  manner  of  our  first  visitors.  One 
canoe  was  remarkable  for  a  singular 
head,  which  had  a  bird's  eye  and  bill 
of  an  enormous  size  painted  on  it ; 
and  a  person  who  was  in  it,  who 
seemed  to  be  a  chief,  was  no  less  re- 
markable for  his  uncommon  appear- 
ance, having  many  feathers  hanging 
from  his  head,  and  being  painted  in 
an  extraordinary  manner.1  He  held 
in  his  hand  a  carved  bird  of  wood,  as 
largo  as  a  pigeon,  with  which  he 


rattled  as  the  person  first  mentioned 
had  done  ;  and  was  no  less  vociferous 
in  his  harangue,  which  was  attended 
with  some  expressive  gestures. 

Though  our  visitors  behaved  very 
peaceably,  and  could  not  be  suspected 
of  any  hostile  intention,  we  could  not 
prevail  upon  any  of  them  to  come  on 
board.  They  showed  great  readiness, 
however,  to  part  with  anything  they 
had,  and  took  from  us  whatever  we 
offered  them  in  exchange  ;  but  were 
more  desirous  of  iron  than  of  any  other 
of  our  articles  of  commerce,  appearing 
to  be  perfectly  acquainted  with  the  use 
of  that  metal.  Many  of  the  canoes  fol- 
lowed us  to  our  anchoring-place  ;  and 
a  group  of  about  ten  or  a  dozen  of 
them  remained  alongside  the  Resolu- 
tion most  part  of  the  night. 

These  circumstances  gave  us  a  rea- 
sonable ground  of  hope  that  we  should 
find  this  a  comfortable  station  to  sup- 
ply all  our  wants,  and  to  make  us 
forget  the  hardships  and  delays  ex- 
perienced during  a  constant  succes- 
sion of  adverse  winds  and  boisterous 
weather  almost  ever  since  our  arrival 
upon  the  coast  of  America. 


BOOK  IV. 

TRANSACTIONS  AMONGST  THE  NATIVES  OP  NORTH  AMERICA;  DIS- 
COVERIES ALONG  THAT  COAST,  AND  THE  EASTERN  EXTREMITY 
OF  ASIA,  NORTHWARD  TO  ICY  CAPE  ;  AND  RETURN  SOUTHWARD 
TO  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  ships  having  happily  found  so 
excellent  shelter  in  an  inlet,  the  coasts 
of  which  appeared  to  be  inhabited  by 
a  race  of  people  whose  inoffensive 


1  Viscaino  met  with  natives  on  the 
coast  of  California,  while  he  was  in 
the  harbour  of  San  Diego,  who  were 
painted  or  besmeared  with  black  and 
white,  and  had  their  heads  loaded 
\vith  feathers. 


behaviour  promised  a  friendly  inter- 
course, the  next  morning,  after  com- 
ing to  anchor,  I  lost  no  time  in  en- 
deavouring to  find  a  commodious 
harbour  where  we  might  station  our- 
selves during  our  continuance  in  the 
sound.  Accordingly  I  sent  three 
armed  boats  under  the  command  of 
Mr  King  upon  this  service  ;  and  soon 
after,  I  went  myself  in  a  small  boat 
on  the  same  search.  I  had  very  little 
trouble  in  finding  what  we  wanted. 
On  the  north-west  of  the  arm  we  we~e 


MAR.  1773.] 


ARTICLES  BROUGHT  TO  BARTER. 


249 


,  now  in,  and  not  far  from  the  ships,  I 
met  with  a  convenient  snug  cove  well 
suited  to  our  purpose.  Mr  King  was 
equally  successful  ;  for  he  returned 
about  noon  with  an  account  of  a  still 
better  harbour  which  he  had  seen  and 
examined,  lying  on  the  north-west 
side  of  the  land.  But  as  it  would 
have  required  more  time  to  carry  the 
ships  thither  than  to  the  cove  where 
I  had  been,  which  was  immediately 
within  our  reach,  this  reason  operated 
to  determine  my  choice  in  favour  of 
the  latter  situation.  But  being  appre- 
hensive that  we  should  not  be  able  to 
transport  our  ships  to  it,  and  to  moor 
them  properly,  before  night  came  on, 
I  thought  it  best  to  remain  where  we 
were  till  next  morning  ;  and  that  no 
time  might  be  lost,  I  employed  the 
remainder  of  the  day  to  some  useful 
purposes,  ordering  the  sails  to  be  un- 
bent, the  top -masts  to  be  struck,  and 
the  fore-mast  of  the  Resolution  to  be 
unrigged,  in  order  to  fix  a  new  bib, 
one  of  the  old  ones  being  decayed. 

A  great  many  canoes  filled  with 
the  natives  were  about  the  ships  all 
day,  and  a  trade  commenced  betwixt 
us  and  them  which  was  carried  on 
with  the  strictest  honesty  on  both 
sides.  The  articles  which  they  offered 
to  sale  were  skins  of  various  animals, 
such  as  bears,  wolves,  foxes,  deer, 
racoons,  polecats,  martens,  and  in 
particular  of  the  sea  otters,  which  are 
found  at  the  islands  east  of  Kamts- 
chatka.  Besides  the  skins  in  their 
native  shape,  they  also  brought  gar- 
ments made  of  them,  and  another 
sort  of  clothing  made  of  the  bark  of 
a  tree,  or  some  plant  like  hemp ; 
weapons,  such  as  bows,  arrows,  and 
spears  ;  fish-hooks,  and  instruments 
of  various  kinds  ;  wooden  visors  of 
many  different  monstrous  figures ;  a 
sort  of  woollen  stuff,  or  blanketing  ; 
bags  filled  with  red  ochre,  pieces  of 
carved  work,  beads,  and  several  other 
little  ornaments  of  thin  brass  and 
iron,  shaped  like  a  horse-shoe,  which 
they  hang  at  their  noses,  and  several 
chisels  or  pieces  of  iron  fixed  to 
handles  ;  from  their  possessing  which 
metals,  we  could  infer  that  they  had 
either  been  visited  before  by  some 


civilised  nation,  or  had  connection 
with  tribes  on  their  continent  who  had 
communication  with  them.  But  the 
most  extraordinary  of  all  the  articles 
Avhichthey  brought  to  the  ships  for  sale 
were  human  skulls  and  hands,  not  yet 
quite  stripped  of  the  flesh,  which  they 
made  our  people  plainly  understand 
they  had  eaten  ;  and  indeed  some  of 
them  had  evident  marks  that  they  had 
been  upon  the  fire.  "We  had  but  too 
much  reason  to  suspect  from  this  cir- 
cumstance that  the  horrid  practice  of 
feeding  on  their  enemies  is  ,  as  pre- 
valent here  as  we  had  found  it  to  be 
at  New  Zealand  and  other  South  Sea 
Islands.  For  the  various  articles 
which  they  brought  they  took  in 
exchange  knives,  chisels,  pieces  of 
iron  and  tin,  nails,  looking-glasses, 
buttons,  or  any  kind  of  metal.  Glass 
beads  they  were  not  fond  of,  and  cloth 
of  every  sort  they  rejected. 

We  employed  the  next  day  in 
hauling  our  ships  into  the  cove, 
where  they  were  moored  head  and 
stern,  fastening  our  hawsers  to  the 
trees  on  shore.  On  heaving  up  the 
anchor  of  the  Resolution  we  found, 
notwithstanding  the  great  depth  of 
water  in  which  it  was  let  go,  that 
there  were  rocks  at  the  bottom.  These 
had  done  some  considerable  damage 
to  the  cable,  and  the  hawsers  that 
were  carried  out  to  warp  the  ship  into 
the  cove  also  got  foul  of  rocks,  from 
which  it  appeared  that  the  whole 
bottom  was  strewn  with  them.  The 
ship  being  again  very  leaky  in  her 
upper  works,  I  ordered  the  carpenters 
to  go  to  work  to  calk  her,  and  to 
repair  such  other  defects  as  on  ex- 
amination we  might  discover. 

The  fame  of  our  arrival  brought  a 
great  concourse  of  the  natives  to  our 
ships  in  the  course  of  this  day.  We 
counted  above  100  canoes  at  onetime, 
which  might  be  supposed  to  contain 
at  an  average  five  persons  each,  for 
few  of  them  had  less  than  three  on 
board,  great  numbers  had  seven,  eight, 
or  nine,  and  one  was  manned  with  no 
less  than  seventeen.  Amongst  these 
visitors  many  now  favoured  us  with 
their  company  for  the  first  time,  which 
we  could  guess  from  their  approach- 


250 


COOK'S  VOYAGES. 


fVoY.IIl.B.IV.Cn.I. 


ing  the  ships  with  their  orations  and 
other  ceremonies.  If  they  had  any 
distrust  or  fear  of  us  at  first,  they 
now  appeared  to  have  laid  it  aside, 
for  they  came  on  board  the  ships  and 
mixed  with  our  people  with  the  great- 
est freedom.  We  soon  discovered  by 
this  nearer  intercourse  that  they  were 
as  light-fingered  as  any  of  our  friends 
in  the  islands  we  had  visited  in  the 
course  of  the  voyage.  And  they  were 
far  more  dangerous  thieves,  for  pos- 
sessing sharp  iron  instruments,  they 
could  cut  a  hook  from  a  tackle,  or 
any  other  piece  of  iron  from  a  rope, 
the  instant  that  our  backs  were 
turned.  A  large  hook  weighing  be- 
tween twenty  and  thirty  pounds, 
several  smaller  ones,  and  other  articles 
of  iron,  were  lost  in  this  manner  ;  and 
as  to  our  boats,  they  stripped  them 
of  every  bit  of  iron  that  was  worth 
carrying  away,  though  we  had  always 
men  left  in  them  as  a  guard.  They 
were  dextrous  enough  in  effecting  their 
purposes,  for  one  fellow  would  con- 
trive to  amuse  the  boat-keeper  at  one 
end  of  a  boat,  while  another  was 
pulling  out  the  iron-work  at  the  other. 
If  we  missed  a  thing  immediately 
after  it  had  been  stolen  we  found 
little  difficulty  in  detecting  the  thief, 
as  they  were  ready  enough  to  impeach 
one  another.  But  the  guilty  person 
generally  relinquished  his  prize  with 
reluctance,  and  sometimes  we  found 
it  necessary  to  have  recourse  to  force. 

The  ships  being  securely  moored, 
we  began  our  other  necessary  business 
the  next  day.  The  observatories  were 
carried  ashore  and  placed  upon  an 
elevated  rock  on  one  side  of  the  cove 
close  to  the  Resolution.  A  party  of 
men,  with  an  officer,  was  sent  to  cut 
wood  and  to  clear  a  place  for  the  con- 
veniency  of  watering.  Others  were 
employed  to  brew  spruce-beer,  as  pine- 
trees  abounded  here.  The  forge  was 
also  set  up  to  make  the  iron-work 
wanting  for  the  repairs  of  the  fore- 
mast. But,  besides  one  of  the  bibs 
being  defective,  the  larboard  trestle- 
tree  and  one  of  the  cross-trees  were 
sprang.  .  .  . 

After  a  fortnight's  bad  weather,  the 
19th  proving  a  fair  day,  we  availed 


ourselves  of  it  to  get  up  the  top-masts  • 
and  yards,  and  to  get  up  the  rigging. 
And  having  now  finished  most  of  our 
heavy  work,  I  set  out  the  next  morn- 
ing to  take  a  view  of  the  sound.  I 
first  went  to  the  west  point,  where  I 
found  a  large  village,  and  before  it  a 
very  snug  harbour,  in  which  was  from 
nine  to  four  fathoms  water  over  a 
bottom  of  fine  sand.  The  people  of 
this  village,  who  were  numerous,  and 
to  most  of  whom  I  was  well  known, 
received  me  very  courteously;  every 
one  pressing  me  to  go  into  his  house, 
or,  rather,  his  apartment,  for  several 
families  live  under  the  same  roof.  I 
did  not  decline  the  invitations,  and 
my  hospitable  friends  whom  I  visited 
spread  a  mat  for  me  to  sit  upon,  and 
showed  me  every  other  mark  of  civility. 
In  most  of  the  houses  were  women  at 
work  making  dresses  of  the  plant  or 
bark  before  mentioned,  which  they 
executed  exactly  in  the  same  manner 
that  the  New  Zealanders  manufacture 
their  cloth.  Others  were  occupied  in 
opening  sardines.  I  had  seen  a  large 
quantity  of  them  brought  on  shore 
from  canoes,  and  divided  by  measure 
amongst  several  people,  who  carried 
them  up  to  their  houses,  where  the 
operation  of  curing  them  by  smoke- 
drying  is  performed.  They  hang 
them  on  small  rods  at  first  about  a 
foot  from  the  fire,  afterward  they 
remove  them  higher  and  higher  to 
make  room  for  others,  till  the  rods  on 
which  the  fish  hang  reach  the  top  of 
the  house.  When  they  are  completely 
dried,  they  are  taken  down  and  packed 
close  in  bales,  which  they  cover  with 
mats.  Thus  they  are  kept  till  wanted, 
and  they  are  not  a  disagreeable  article 
of  food.  Cod  and  other  large  fish  are 
also  cured  in  the  same  manner  by 
them,  though  they  sometimes  dry 
these  in  the  open  air  without  fire. 

From  this  village  I  proceeded  up 
the  west  side  of  the  sound.  For  about 
three  miles  I  found  the  shore  covered 
with  small  islands,  which  are  so  situ- 
ated as  to  form  several  convenient 
harbours,  having  various  depths  of 
water  from  thirty  to  seven  fathoms, 
with  a  good  bottom.  Two  leagues 
within  the  sound  on  this  west  sida 


APRIL  1778.]    BEHAVIOUR  OF  NATIVES  AT  THEIR  VILLAGES.    251 


there  runs  in  an  arm  in  the  direction 
of  NNW. ;  and  two  miles  farther  is 
another  nearly  in  the  same  direction, 
with  a  pretty  large  island  before  it. 
I  had  no  time  to  examine  either  of 
these  arms,  but  have  reason  to  believe 
that  they  do  not  extend  far  inland, 
as  the  water  was  no  more  than  brackish 
at  their  entrances.  A  mile  above  the 
second  arm  I  found  the  remains  of  a 
village.  The  logs  or  framings  of  the 
houses  were  standing,  but  the  boards 
that  had  composed  their  sides  and 
roofs  did  not  exist.  Before  this  vil- 
lage were  some  large  fishing  weirs, 
but  I  saw  nobody  attending  them. 
These  weirs  were  composed  of  pieces 
of  wicker-work  made  of  small  rods, 
some  closer  than  others,  according  to 
the  size  of  the  fish  intended  to  be 
caught  in  them.  These  pieces  of 
wicker-work  (some  of  whose  superficies 
are  at  least  twenty  feet  by  twelve)  are 
fixed  up  edgewise  in  shallow  water  by 
strong  poles  or  pickets  that  stand  firm 
in  the  ground.  Behind  this  ruined 
village  is  a  plain  of  a  few  miles'  ex- 
tent, covered  with  the  largest  pine- 
trees  that  I  ever  saw.  This  was  the 
more  remarkable  as  the  elevated 
ground  on  most  other  parts  of  this 
west  side  of  the  sound  was  rather 
naked. 

From  this  place  I  crossed  over  to 
the  other,  or  east  side  of  the  sound, 
passing  an  arm  of  it  that  runs  in 
NNE.,  to  appearance  not  far.  I  now 
found,  what  I  had  before  conjectured, 
that  the  land  under  which  the  ships 
lay  was  an  island,  and  that  there  were 
many  smaller  ones  lying  scattered  in 
the  sound  on  the  west  side  of  it. 
Opposite  the  north  end  of  our  large 
island,  upon  the  mainland,  I  ob- 
served a  village,  and  there  I  landed. 
The  inhabitants  of  it  were  not  so 
polite  as  those  of  the  other  I  had 
just  visited.  But  this  cold  reception 
seemed  in  a  great  measure,  if  not  en- 
tirely, owing  to  one  surly  chief,  who 
would  not  let  me  enter  their  houses, 
following  me  wherever  I  went ;  and 
several  times  by  expressive  signs 
marking  his  impatience  that  I  should 
be  gone.  I  attempted  in  vain  to 
ftoothe  him  by  presents,  but  though 


he  did  not  refuse  them,  they  did  not 
alter  his  behaviour.  Some  of  the 
young  women,  better  pleased  with  us 
than  was  their  inhospitable  chief, 
dressed  themselves  expeditiously  in 
their  best  apparel ;  and,  assembling 
in  a  body,  welcomed  us  to  their  village 
by  joining  in  a  song  which  was  far 
from  harsh  or  disagreeable.  The  day 
being  now  far  spent,  I  proceeded  for 
the  ships  round  the  north  end  of  the 
large  island,  meeting  in  my  way  with 
several  canoes  laden  with  sardines 
which  had  been  just  caught  some- 
where in  the  east  corner  of  the  sound. 
When  I  got  on  board,  I  was  informed 
that  while  I  was  absent  the  ships  had 
been  visited  by  some  strangers  in  two 
or  three  large  canoes,  who  by  signs 
made  our  people  understand  that 
they  had  come  from  the  south-east 
beyond  the  bay.  They  brought  seve- 
ral skins,  garments,  and  other  articles, 
which  they  bartered.  But,  what  was 
most  singular,  two  silver  table-spoons 
were  purchased  from  them,  which, 
from  their  peculiar  shape,  we  supposed 
to  be  of  Spanish  manufacture.  One 
of  these  strangers  wore  them  round 
his  neck  by  way  of  ornament.  These 
visitors  also  appeared  to  be  more  plen- 
tifully supplied  with  iron  than  the 
inhabitants  of  the  sound. 

The  mizzen-mast  being  finished,  it 
was  got  in  and  rigged  on  the  21st ; 
and  the  carpenters  were  set  to  work 
to  make  a  new  fore-topmast  to  re- 
place the  one  that  had  been  carried 
away  some  time  before.  Next  morn- 
ing, about  8  o'clock,  we  were  visited 
by  a  number  of  strangers  in  twelve  or 
fourteen  canoes.  They  came  into  the 
cove  from  the  southward,  and  as  soon 
as  they  had  turned  the  point  of  it, 
they  stopped  and  lay  drawn  up  in  a 
body  above  half-an-hour  about  200  or 
300  yards  from  the  ships.  At  first  we 
thought  that  they  were  afraid  to  come 
nearer,  but  we  were  mistaken  in  this, 
and  they  were  only  preparing  an  in- 
troductory ceremony.  On  advancing 
toward  the  ships,  they  all  stood  up  in, 
their  canoes  and  began  to  sing.  Some 
of  their  songs,  in  which  the  whole 
body  joined,  were  in  a  slow  and  others 
in  quicker  time;  and  they  accom- 


252 

panied  their  notes  with  the  most  regu- 
lar motions  of  their  hands,  or  beating 
in  concert  with  their  paddles  on  the 
sides  of  the  canoes,  and  making  other 
very  expressive  gestures.  At  the  end 
of  each  song  they  remained  silent  a 
few  seconds,  and  then  began  again, 
sometimes  pronouncing  the  word 
"  hooee ! "  forcibly,  as  a  chorus.  After 
entertaining  us  with  this  specimen  of 
their  music,  which  we  listened  to 
with  admiration  for  above  half-an- 
hour,  they  came  alongside  the  ships 
and  bartered  what  they  had  to  dispose 
of.  Some  of  our  old  friends  of  the 
sound  were  now  found  to  be  amongst 
them,  and  they  took  the  whole  man- 
agement of  the  traffic  between  us  and 
the  strangers,  much  to  the  advantage 
of  the  latter. 

Our  attendance  on  these  visitors 
being  finished,  Captain  Clerke  and  I 
went  in  the  forenoon  with  two  boats 
to  the  village  at  the  west  point  of  the 
sound.  When  I  was  there  the  day  be- 
fore, I  had  observed  thatplenty  of  grass 
grew  near  it ;  and  it  was  necessary  to 
lay  in  a  quantity  of  this  as  food  for 
the  few  goats  and  sheep  which  were 
still  left  on  board.  The  inhabitants 
received  us  with  the  same  demonstra- 
tions of  friendship  which  I  had  ex- 
perienced before  ;  and  the  moment 
we  landed  I  ordered  some  of  my 
people  to  begin  their  operation  of  cut- 
ting. I  had  not  the  least  imagina- 
tion that  the  natives  could  make  any 
objection  to  our  furnishing  ourselves 
with  what  seemed  to  be  of  no  use  to 
them,  but  was  necessary  for  us. 
However,  I  was  mistaken ;  for,  the 
moment  that  our  men  began  to  cut, 
some  of  the  inhabitants  interposed, 
and  would  not  permit  them  to  proceed, 
saying  they  must  "makook,"  that  is, 
must  first  buy  it.  I  was  now  in  one 
of  the  houses,  but  as  soon  as  I  heard 
of  this  I  went  to  the  field,  where  I 
found  about  a  dozen  of  the  natives, 
each  of  whom  laid  claim  to  some  part 
of  the  grass  that  grew  in  this  place. 
I  bargained  with  them  for  it,  and 
having  completed  the  purchase, 
thought  we  were  now  at  liberty  to  cut 
wherever  we  pleased.  But  here  again 
it  appeared  that  I  was  under  a  inis- 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.  [VoY.  III.  B.  IV. CH.  I. 
take,  for  the  liberal  manner  in  which 
I  had  paid  the  first  pretended  pro- 
prietors brought  fresh  demands  upon 
me  from  others ;  so  that  there  did 
not  seem  to  be  a  single  blade  of  grass, 
that  had  not  a  separate  owner,  and  so 
many  of  them  were  to  be  satisfied 
that  I  very  soon  emptied  my  pockets. 
When  they  found  that  I  really  had 
nothing  more  to  give,  their  impor- 
tunities ceased,  and  we  were  permitted 
to  cut  wherever  we  pleased,  and  as 
much  as  we  choose  to  carry  away. 

Here  I  must  observe  that  I  have  no- 
where in  my  several  voyages  met 
with  any  uncivilised  nation  or  tribe 
who  had  such  strict  notions  of  their 
having  a  right  to  the  exclusive  pro- 
perty of  every  thing  that  their  country 
produces,  as  the  inhabitants  of  this 
sound.  At  first  they  wanted  our 
people  to  pay  for  the  wood  and  water 
that  they  carried  on  board  ;  and  had 
I  been  upon  the  spot  when  these  de- 
mands were  made,  I  should  certainly 
have  complied  with  them.  Our  work- 
men in  my  absence  thought  differ- 
ently, for  they  took  but  little  notice 
of  such  claims  ;  and  the  natives,  when 
they  found  that  we  were  determined 
to  pay  nothing,  at  last  ceased  to 
apply.  But  they  made  a  merit  of 
necessity  ;  and  frequently  afterwards 
took  occasion  to  remind  us  that  they 
had  given  us  wood  and  water  out  of 
friendship.1 

When  we  had  completed  all  our 
operations  at  this  village,  the  natives 
and  we  parted  very  good  friends,  and 
we  got  back  to  the  ships  in  the  after- 
noon. 

The  three  following  days  were  em- 
ployed in  getting  ready  to  put  to  sea ; 
the  sails  were  bent ;  the  observatories 
and  instruments,  brewing  vessels,  and 
other  things  were  moved  from  the 
shore  ;  some  small  spars  for  different 


1  Similar  to  the  behaviour  of  the 
natives  of  Nootka  on  this  occasion 
was  that  of  another  tribe  of  Indians 
farther  north,  in  Latitude  57°  18',  to 
the  Spaniards  who  had  preceded  Cap- 
tain Cook  only  three  years,  in  a  voy- 
age to  explore  the  coast  of  America 
northward  of  California. 


APRIL  1778.]    PRESENTS  GIVEN  AND  RECEIVED  AT  PARTING.   253 


uses,  and  pieces  of  timber  which 
might  be  occasionally  sawn  into  boards 
were  prepared  and  put  on  board  ;  and 
both  ships  were  cleared  and  put  into 
a  sailing  condition.  Everything  being 
now  ready,  in  the  morning  of  the 
26th  I  intended  to  have  put  to  sea  ; 
but  both  wind  and  tide  being  against 
us,  was  obliged  to  wait  till  noon, 
when  the  south-west  wind  was  suc- 
ceeded by  a  calm,  and,  the  tide  turn- 
ing in  our  favour,  we  cast  off  the 
moorings,  and  with  our  boats  towed 
the  ships  out  of  the  cove.  After  this 
we  had  variable  light  airs  and  calms 
till  four  in  the  afternoon,  when  a 
breeze  sprung  up  northerly,  with  very 
thick  hazy  weather.  The  mercury  in 
the  barometer  fell  unusually  low ;  and 
we  had  every  other  forerunner  of  an 
approaching  storm,  which  we  had 
reason  to  expect  would  be  from  the 
southward.  This  made  me  hesitate 
a  little,  as  night  was  at  hand,  whether 
I  should  venture  to  sail,  or  wait  till 
the  next  morning.  But  my  anxious 
impatience  to  proceed  upon  the  voy- 
age, and  the  fear  of  losing  this  oppor- 
tunity of  getting  out  of  the  sound, 
making  a  greater  impression  on  my 
mind  than  any  apprehension  of  im- 
mediate danger,  I  determined  to  put 
to  sea  at  all  events. 

Our  friends  the  natives  attended  us 
till  we  were  almost  out  of  the  sound  ; 
some  on  board  the  ships  and  others  in 
their  canoes.  One  of  their  chiefs, 
who  had  some  time  before  attached 
himself  to  me,  was  amongst  the  last 
who  left  us.  Having  before  he  went 
bestowed  upon  him  a  small  present, 
I  received  in  return  a  beaver-skin  of 
much  greater  value.  This  called  upon 
me  to  make  some  addition  to  my 
present,  which  pleased  him  so  much 
that  he  insisted  upon  my  acceptance 
of  the  beaver-skin  cloak  which  he 
then  wore,  and  of  which  I  knew  he 
was  particularly  fond.  Struck  with 
this  instance  of  generosity,  and  de- 
sirous that  he  should  be  no  sufferer 
by  his  friendship  to  me,  I  presented 
to  him  a  new  broadsword  with  a  brass 
hilt ;  the  possession  of  which  made 
him  completely  happy.  He,  and  also 
many  others  of  his  countrymen,  im- 


portuned us  much  to  pay  them  an- 
other visit ;  and  by  way  of  encour- 
agement promised  to  lay  in  a  good 
stock  of  skins.  I  make  no  doubt  that 
whoever  comes  after  me  to  this  place 
will  find  the  natives  prepared  ac- 
cordingly, with  no  inconsiderable 
supply  of  an  article  of  trade  which, 
they  could  observe,  we  were  eager  to 
possess,  and  which  we  found  could  be 
purchased  to  great  advantage. 

Such  particulars  about  the  country 
and  its  inhabitants  as  came  to  our 
knowledge  during  our  short  stay,  and 
have  not  been  mentioned  in  the 
course  of  the  narrative,  will  furnish 
materials  for  the  two  following  Chap- 
ters. 


CHAPTER  II. 

ON  my  arrival  in  this  inlet  I  had 
honoured  it  with  the  name  of  King 
George's  Sound,  but  I  afterwards  found 
that  it  is  called  Nootka  by  the  natives. 
The  entrance  is  situated  in  the  east 
corner  of  Hope  Bay,  in  the  Latitude 
of  49°  33'  N.  and  in  the  Longitude  of 
233°  12'  E.  The  east  coast  of  that 
bay,  all  the  way  from  Breakers  Point 
to  the  entrance  of  the  sound,  is 
covered  by  a  chain  of  sunken  rocks 
that  seemed  to  extend  some  distance 
from  the  shore ;  and  near  the  sound 
are  some  islands  and  rocks  above 
water.  "We  enter  this  sound  between 
two  rocky  points  that  lie  ESE.  and 
WNW.  from  each  other,  distant  be- 
tween three  and  four  miles.  Within 
these  points  the  sound  widens  con- 
siderably, and  extends  in  to  the  north- 
ward four  leagues  at  least,  exclusive 
of  the  several  branches  towards  its 
bottom,  the  termination  of  which  we 
had  not  an  opportunity  to  ascertain. 
But  from  the  circumstance  of  finding 
that  the  water  freshened  where  our 
boats  crossed  their  entrance,  it  is 
probable  that  they  had  almost  reached 
its  utmost  limits.  And  this  proba- 
bility is  increased  by  the  hills  that 
bounded  it  toward  the  land,  being 
covered  with  thick  snow,  when  those 
toward  the  sea,  or  where  we  lay,  had 


254 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.        [Voy.  III.  B.  IV.  CH.  II. 


not  a  speck  remaining  on  them,  though 
in  general  they  were  much  higher. 
In  the  middle  of  the  sound  are  a  num- 
ber of  islands  of  various  sizes.  The 
depth  of  water  in  the  middle  of  the 
sound,  and  even  close  home  to  some 
parts  of  its  shore,  is  from  forty-seven 
to  ninety  fathoms,  and  perhaps  more. 
The  harbours  and  anchoring-places 
within  its  circuit  are  numerous,  but 
we  had  no  time  to  survey  them.  The 
cove  in  which  our  ships  lay  is  on  the 
east  side  of  the  sound  and  on  the  east 
side  of  the  largest  of  the  islands.  It  is 
covered  from  the  sea,  but  has  little  else 
to  recommend  it,  being  exposed  to 
the  south -east  winds,  which  we  found 
to  blow  with  great  violence  ;  and  the 
devastation  they  make  sometimes  was 
apparent  in  many  places. 

The  land  bordering  upon  the  sea- 
coast  is  of  a  middling  height  and 
level,  but  within  the  sound  it  rises 
almost  everywhere  into  steep  hills, 
which  agree  in  their  general  formation, 
ending  in  round  or  blunted  tops,  with 
some  sharp  though  not  very  prominent 
ridges  on  their  sides.  Some  of  these 
hills  may  be  reckoned  high,  while 
others  of  them  are  of  a  very  moderate 
height ;  but  even  the  highest  are  en- 
tirely covered  to  their  tops  with  the 
thickest  woods,  as  well  as  every  flat 
part  toward  the  sea.  There  are  some- 
times spots  upon  the  sides  of  some  of 
the  hills  which  are  bare,  but  they  are 
few  in  comparison  of  the  whole,  though 
they  sufficiently  point  out  the  general 
rocky  disposition  of  these  hills.  Pro- 
perly speaking,  they  have  no  soil 
upon  them  except  a  kind  of  compost 
produced  from  rotten  mosses  and  trees 
of  the  depth  of  two  feet  or  more. 
Their  foundations  are  therefoi*e  to  be 
considered  as  nothing  more  than  stu- 
pendous rocks  of  a  whitish  or  grey 
cast  where  they  have  been  exposed  to 
the  weather;  but  when  broken  they 
appeared  to  be  of  a  bluish -grey  colour, 
like  that  universal  sort  which  were 
found  at  Kerguelen's  Land.  The 
rocky  shores  are  a  continued  mass 
of  this,  and  the  little  coves  in  the 
sound  have  beaches  composed  of  frag- 
ments of  it,  with  a  few  other  pebbles. 
All  these  coves  arc  furnished  with  a 


great  quantity  of  fallen  wood  lying  in 
them,  which  is  carried  in  by  the  tide, 
and  with  rills  of  fresh  water  sufficient 
for  the  use  of  a  ship,  which  seem  to 
be  supplied  entirely  from  the  rains 
and  fogs  that  hover  about  the  tops  of 
the  hills.  For  few  springs  can  be  ex- 
pected in  so  rocky  a  country,  and  the 
fresh  water  found  farther  up  the 
sound  most  probably  arose  from  the 
melting  of  the  snow,  there  being  no 
room  to  suspect  that  any  large  river 
falls  into  the  sound,  either  from 
strangers  coming  down  it  or  from  any 
other  circumstance.  The  water  of 
these  rills  is  perfectly  clear,  and  dis- 
solves soap  easily. 

The  weather  during  our  stay  corre- 
sponded pretty  nearly  with  that  which 
we  had  experienced  off  the  coast. 
That  is,  when  the  wind  was  anywhere 
between  N.  and  W.  the  weather  was 
fine  and  clear ;  but  if  to  the  S.  of  W. 
hazy,  with  rain.  The  climate,  as  far 
as  we  had  any  experience  of  it,  is  in- 
finitely milder  than  that  on  the  east 
coast  of  America  under  the  same 
parallel  of  latitude.  The  mercury  in 
the  thermometer  never  even  in  the 
night  fell  lower  than  42°,  and  very 
often  in  the  day  it  rose  to  60°.  No 
such  tiling  as  frost  was  perceived  in 
any  of  the  low  ground,  on  the  con- 
trary, vegetation  had  made  a  consider- 
able progress,  for  I  met  with  grass 
that  was  already  above  a  foot  long. 

The  trees  which  chiefly  compose  the 
woods  are  the  Canadian  pine,  white 
cypress,  Cypressus  thyoides,  the  wild 
pine,  with  two  or  three  other  sorts  of 
pine  less  common.  The  first  two 
make  up  almost  two-thirds  of  the 
whole,  and  at  a  distance  might  be 
mistaken  for  the  same  tree,  as  they 
both  run  up  into  pointed  spire-like  tops ; 
but  they  are  easily  distinguished  on 
coming  nearer  from  their  colour,  the 
cypress  being  of  a  much  paler  green, 
or  shade,  than  the  other.  The  trees 
in  general  grow  with  great  vigour,  and 
are  all  of  a  large  size.  There  is  but 
little  variety  of  other  vegetable  pro- 
ductions, though  doubtless  several 
had  not  yet  sprung  up  at  the  early 
season  when  we  visited  the  place ;  and 
many  more  might  be  hid  from  the 


APRIL  1778.] 


SKINS  BROUGHT  FOR  SALE. 


255 


narrow  sphere  of  our  researches.  About 
the  rocks  and  verge  of  the  woods  we 
found  strawberry  plants,  some  rasp- 
berry, currant,  and  gooseberry  bushes, 
which  were  all  in  a  most  flourishing 
state,  with  a  few  small  black  alder- 
trees.  There  are  likewise  a  species  of 
sow-thistle,  goose-grass,  some  crow's- 
foot,  which  has  a  very  fine  crimson 
flower ;  and  two  sorts  of  Anthericum, 
one  with  a  large  orange  flower,  and 
the  other  with  a  blue  one.  We  also 
found  in  these  situations  some  wild 
rose-bushes  which  were  just  budding ; 
a  great  quantity  of  young  leeks  with 
triangular  leaves  j  a  small  sort  of 
grass ;  and  some  water-cresses,  which 
grow  about  the  sides  of  the  rills  ;  be- 
sides great  abundance  of  Andromeda. 
Within  the  woods,  besides  two  sorts 
of  underwood  shrubs  unknown  to  us, 
are  mosses  and  ferns.  Of  the  first  of 
which  are  seven  or  eight  different 
sorts,  of  the  last  not  above  three  or 
four;  and  the  species  of  both  are 
mostly  such  as  are  common  to  Europe 
and  America. 

The  account  that  we  can  give  of  the 
quadrupeds  is  taken  from  the  skins 
which  the  natives  brought  to  sell,  and 
these  were  often  so  mutilated  with 
respect  to  the  distinguishing  parts, 
such  as  the  paws,  tails,  and  heads, 
that  it  was  impossible  even  to  guess 
at  the  animals  to  which  they  belonged, 
though  others  were  so  perfect,  or  at 
least  so  well  known,  that  they  left  no 
room  to  doubt  about  them. 

Of  these  the  most  common  were 
bears,  deer,  foxes,  and  wolves.  The 
bear-skins  were  in  great  numbers,  few 
of  them  very  large,  but  in  general  of 
a  shining  black  colour.  The  deer- 
skins were  scarcer,  and  they  seem  to 
belong  to  that  sort  called  the  fallow- 
deer  by  the  historians  of  Carolina, 
though  Mr  Pennant1  thinks  it  quite  a 
different  species  from  ours,  and  distin- 


1  The  celebrated  naturalist  and  an- 
tiquary, whose  "British  Zoology," 
"History  of  Quadrupeds,"  "Arctic 
Zoology,"  &c.,  are  less  remembered 
and  relished  at  this  day  than  his  Tours 
in  Scotland  and  in  Wales,  and  his 
"Account  of  London." 


guishes  it  by  the  name  of  Virginian 
deer.  The  foxes  are  in  great  plenty, 
and  of  several  varieties ;  some  of  their 
skins  being  quite  yellow,  with  a  black 
tip  to  the  tail ;  others  of  a  deep  or 
reddish  yellow  intermixed  with  black ; 
and  a  third  sort  of  a  whitish  grey  or 
ash-colour,  also  intermixed  with  black. 
Our  people  used  to  apply  the  name  of 
fox  or  wolf  indiscriminately  when  the 
skins  were  so  mutilated  as  to  leave 
room  for  a  doubt ;  but  we  got  at  last 
an  entire  wolf-skin  with  the  head  on, 
and  it  was  grey.  Besides  the  common 
sort  of  marten,  the  pine-marten  is  also 
here,  and  another,  whose  skin  is  of  a 
lighter  brown  colour  than  either,  with 
coarser  hair ;  but  is  not  so  common, 
and  is  perhaps  only  a  mere  variety 
arising  from  age  or  some  other  acci- 
dental circumstance.  The  ermine  is 
also  found  at  this  place,  but  is  rare 
arid  small ;  nor  is  the  hair  remarkably 
fine,  though  the  animal  appeared  to 
be  perfectly  white ;  and  squirrels  are 
of  the  common  sort,  but  the  latter  is 
rather  smaller  than  ours,  and  has  a 
deeper  rusty  colour  running  along  the 
back. 

We  were  clear  as  to  the  existence  of 
all  the  animals  already  mentioned, 
but  there  are  two  others  besides  which 
we  could  not  distinguish  with  suffi- 
cient certainty.  Of  the  first  of  these 
we  saw  none  of  the  skins  but  what 
were  dressed  or  tanned  like  leather. 
The  natives  wear  them  on  some  occa- 
sions, and  from  the  size  as  well  as 
thickness  they  were  generally  con- 
cluded to  belong  to  the  elk  or  moose- 
deer,  though  some  of  them  perhaps 
might  belong  to  the  buffalo.  The  other 
animal,  which  seems  by  no  means 
rare,  was  guessed  to  be  a  species 
of  the  wild  cat  or  lynx.  The  length 
of  the  skins  without  the  head,  which 
none  of  them  had,  was  about  two  feet 
two  inches.  They  are  covered  with  a 
very  fine  wool  or  fur  of  a  very  light 
brown  or  whitish  yellow  colour,  inter- 
mixed with  long  hairs,  which  on  the 
back,  where  they  are  shortest,  are 
blackish ;  on  the  sides,  where  they  are 
longer,  of  a  silver  white ;  ard  on  the 
belly,  where  they  are  longest,  of  the 
colour  of  the  wool ;  but  the  whitish  or 


256 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.         [VoY.IILB.rV.CH.il. 


silver  hairs  are  often  so  predominant 
that  the  whole  animal  acquires  a  cast 
of  that  kind.  The  tail  is  only  three 
inches  long,  and  has  a  black  tip.  The 
whole  skin  being  by  the  natives  called 
"wanshee,"  that  most  probably  is 
their  name  for  this  animal.  Hogs, 
dogs,  and  goats  have  not  as  yet  found 
their  way  to  this  place.  Nor  do  the 
natives  seem  to  have  any  knowledge 
of  our  brown  rats,  to  which,  when 
they  saw  one  on  board  the  ships,  they 
applied  the  name  they  give  to  squir- 
rels. And  though  they  called  our 
goats  "eineetla,"  this  most  probably 
is  their  name  for  a  young  deer  or 
fawn. 

The  sea-animals  seen  off  the  coast 
were  whales,  porpoises,  and  seals. 
The  last  of  these  seem  only  of  the 
common  sort,  judging  from  the  skins 
which  we  saw  here ;  their  colour  being 
either  silvery,  yellowish,  plain,  or 
spotted  with  black.  The  porpoise  is 
the  Phocena.  I  have  chosen  to  refer 
to  this  class  the  sea-otter,  as  living 
mostly  in  the  water.  It  might  have 
been  sufficient  to  have  mentioned 
that  this  animal  abounds  here,  as  it 
is  fully  described  in  different  books 
taken  from  the  accounts  of  the  Rus- 
sian adventurers  in  their  expeditions 
eastward  from  Kamtschatka,  if  there 
had  not  been  a  small  difference  in 
one  that  we  saw.  We  for  some  time 
entertained  doubts  whether  the  many 
skins  which  the  natives  brought  really 
belonged  to  this  animal,  as  our  only 
reason  for  being  of  that  opinion  was 
founded  on  the  size,  colour,  and  fine- 
ness of  the  fur ;  till  a  short  while  be- 
fore our  departure,  when  a  whole  one 


without  at  the  base  of  the  two  middle 
ones.  In  these  circumstances  it  seems 
to  disagree  with  those  found  by  the 
Russians,  and  also  in  not  having  the 
outer  toes  of  the  hind  feet  skirted 
with  a  membrane.  There  seemed 
also  a  greater  variety  in  the  colour  of 
the  skins  than  is  mentioned  by  the 
describers  of  the  Russian  sea-otters. 
These  changes  of  colour  certainly 
take  place  at  the  different  gradations 
of  life.  The  very  young  ones  had 
brown  hair,  which  was  coarse,  with 
very  little  fur  underneath,  but  those 
of  the  size  of  the  entire  animal  which 
came  into  our  possession  had  a  con- 
siderable quantity  of  that  substance ; 
and  both  in  that  colour  and  state  the 
sea-otters  seem  to  remain  till  they 
have  attained  their  full  growth.  After 
that  they  lose  their  black  colour,  and 
assume  a  deep  brown  or  sooty  colour ; 
but  have  then  a  greater  quantity  of 
very  fine  fur  and  scarcely  any  long 
hairs.  Others,  which  we  suspected 
to  be  still  older,  were  of  a  chestnut 
brown;  and  a  few  skins  were  seen 
that  had  even  acquired  a  perfectly 
yellow  colour.  The  fur  of  these  ani- 
mals, as  mentioned  in  the  Russian 
accounts,  is  certainly  softer  and  finer 
than  that  of  any  others  we  know  of, 
and  therefore  the  discovery  of  this 
part  of  the  continent  of  North  Ame- 
rica, where  so  valuable  an  article  of 
commerce  may  be  met  with,  cannot 
be  a  matter  of  indifference. 

Birds  in  general  are  not  only  rare 
as  to  the  different  species,  but  very 
scarce  as  to  numbers,  and  these  few 
are  so  shy,  that  in  all  probability  they 
are  continually  harassed  by  the  na- 


that  had  been  just  killed  was  pur-  !  tives,  perhaps  to  eat  them  as  food, 
chased  from  some  strangers  who  came  !  certainly  to  get  possession  of  their 
to  barter.  It  was  rather  young,  !  feathers,  which  they  use  as  ornaments, 
weighing  only  twenty-five  pounds ;  of  i  Those  which  frequent  the  woods  are 
a  shining  or  glossy  black  colour ;  but  !  crows  and  ravens,  not  at  all  different 
many  of  the  hairs  being  tipt  with  i  from  our  English  ones ;  a  bluish  jay 


white,  gave  it  a  greyish  cast  at  first 
sight.  The  face,  throat,  and  breast 
were  of  a  yellowish  white  or  very  light 
brown  colour,  which  in  many  of  the 
skins  extended  the  whole  length  of 
the  belly.  It  had  six  cutting-teeth 
in  each  jaw ;  two  of  those  of  the  lower 
jaw  being  very  minute,  and  placed 


or  magpie;  common, wrens,  which  are 
the  only  singing  bird  that  we  hear ; 
the  Canadian  or  migrating  thrush; 
and  a  considerable  number  of  brown 
eagles  with  white  heads  and  tails, 
which,  though  they  seem  principally 
to  frequent  the  coast,  come  into  the 
sound  in  bad  weather  and  sometimes 


APRIL  1778.]    OF  THE  BIRDS,  WATERFOWL,  AND  FISH. 


perch  upon  the  trees.  Amongst  some 
other  birds  of  which  the  natives  either 
brought  fragments  or  dried  skins,  we 
could  distinguish  a  small  species  of 
hawk,  a  heron,  and  the  Alcyon  or 
large-crested  American  kingfisher. 
There  are  also  some  which,  I  believe, 
are  not  mentioned,  or  at  least  vary 
very  considerably  from  the  accounts 
given  of  them  by  any  writers  who 
have  treated  professedly  on  this  part 
of  natural  history.  The  first  two  of 
these  are  species  of  woodpeckers; 
one  less  than  a  thrush,  of  a  black 
colour  above,  with  white  spots  on  the 
•wings,  a  crimson  head,  neck,  and 
breast,  and  a  yellowish,  olive- coloured 
belly,  from  which  last  circumstance 
it  might  perhaps  not  improperly  be 
called  the  yellow-bellied  woodpecker. 
The  other  is  a  larger  and  much  more 
elegant  bird,  of  a  dusky  brown  colour 
on  the  upper  part,  richly  waved  with 
black,  except  about  the  head,  the 
belly  of  a  reddish  cast,  with  round 
black  spots,  a  black  spot  on  the 
breast,  and  the  under  side  of  the  wings 
and  tail  of  a  plain  scarlet  colour, 
though  blackish  above ;  with  a  crim- 
son streak  running  from  the  angle  of 
the  mouth  a  little  down  the  neck  on 
each  side.  The  third  and  fourth  are 
a  small  bird  of  the  finch  kind,  about 
the  size  of  a  linnet,  of  a  dark  dusky 
colour,  whitish  below,  with  a  black 
head  and  neck  and  white  bill,  and  a 
sand-piper  of  the  size  of  a  small 
pigeon,  of  a  dusky  brown  colour,  and 
white  below  except  the  throat  and 
breast,  with  a  broad  white  band  across 
the  wings.  There  are  also  humming- 
birds ;  which  yet  seem  to  differ  from 
the  numerous  sorts  of  this  delicate 
animal  already  known,  unless  they 
be  a  mere  variety  of  the  Trocliilus 
colubris  of  Linnaeus.  These  perhaps 
inhabit  more  to  the  southward,  and 
spread  northward  as  the  season  ad- 
vances, because  we  saw  none  at  first, 
though  near  the  time  of  our  depar- 
ture the  natives  brought  them  to  the 
ships  in  great  numbers.  The  birds 
which  frequent  the  waters  and  the 
shores,  are  not  more  numerous  than 
the  others.  The  "  quebrantahuesos  " 
[or  ospreys],  gulls,  and  shags,  were 


257 

seen  off  the  coast ;  and  the  last  two 
also  frequent  the  sound.  They  are 
of  the  common  sorts,  the  shags  being 
our  cormorant  or  water-crow.  We 
saw  two  sorts  of  wild  ducks;  one 
black,  with  a  white  head,  which 
were  in  considerable  flocks ;  the  other 
white,  with  a  red  bill,  but  of  a  largei 
size;  and  the  greater  "lumme,"  or 
diver,  found  in  our  northern  coun- 
tries. There  were  also  seen,  once  ol 
twice,  some  swans  flying  across  the 
sound  to  the  northward,  but  we  knew 
nothing  of  their  haunts.  On  the 
shores,  besides  the  sand-piper  de- 
scribed above,  we  found  another  about 
the  size  of  a  lark,  which  bears  a  great 
affinity  to  the  "  burre ;"  and  a  plover 
differing  very  little  from  our  common 
sea-lark. 

Fish  are  more  plentiful  in  quantity 
than  birds,  though  the  variety  is  not 
very  great ;  and  yet  from  several  cir- 
cumstances it  is  probable  that  even 
the  variety  is  considerably  increased 
at  certain  seasons.  The  principal 
sorts,  which  we  found  in  great  num- 
bers, are  the  common  herring,  but 
scarcely  exceeding  seven  inches  in 
length  ;  a  smaller  sort,  which  is  the 
same  with  the  anchovy  or  sardine, 
though  rather  larger  ;  a  white  or  sil- 
ver-coloured bream,  and  another  of  a 
gold-brown  colour,  with  many  narrow 
longitudinal  blue  stripes.  The  her- 
rings and  sardines,  doubtless,  come 
in  large  shoals,  and  only  at  stated 
seasons,  as  is  common  with  that  sort 
of  fish.  The  bream  of  both  sorts  may 
be  reckoned  the  next  to  these  in  quan- 
tity ;  and  the  full-grown  ones  weighed 
at  least  a  pound.  The  other  fish,  which 
are  all  scarce,  are  a  small  brown  kind 
of  "sculpin,"  such  as  is  found  on  the 
coast  of  Norway ;  another  of  a  brown- 
ish red  cast ;  frost  fish ;  a  large  one 
somewhat  resembling  the  bullhead, 
with  a  tough  skin  destitute  of  scales ; 
and  now  and  then,  towards  the  time 
of  our  leaving  the  sound,  the  natives 
brought  a  small  brownish  cod  spotted 
with  white,  and  a  red  fish  of  the  same 
size,  which  some  of  our  people  said 
they  had  seen  in  the  Straits  of  Magel- 
lan ;  besides  another  differing  little 
from  the  hake.  There  are  also  con- 
R 


253 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.       [VoY.  III.  B.  IV.  CH.  II. 


siderable  numbers  of  those  fish  called 
the  Chimcerce,-or  little  sea-wolves,  by 
some,  which  is  akin  to  and  about  the 
size  of  the  "pezegallo"  or  elephant- 
fish.  Sharks  likewise  sometimes  fre- 
quent the  sound,  for  the  natives  have 
some  of  their  teeth  in  their  possession ; 
and  we  saw  some  pieces  of  ray  or 
skate  which  seemed  to  have  been 
pretty  large.  The  other  marine  ani- 
mals that  ought  to  be  mentioned  here 
are  a  small  cruciated  Medusa  or  blub- 
ber ;  star-fish  which  differ  somewhat 
from  the  common  ones ;  two  small 
sorts  of  crabs,  and  two  others  which 
the  natives  brought,  one  of  them  of  a 
thick,  tough,  gelatinous  consistence, 
and  the  other  a  sort  of  membranaceous 
tube  or  pipe ;  both  which  are  probably 
taken  from  the  rocks.  And  we  also 
purchased  from  them  once  a  very  large 
cuttle-fish.  There  is  abundance  of 
large  mussels  about  the  rocks  ;  many 
sea- ears ;  and  we  often  saw  shells  of 
pretty  large  plain  Chamce.  The  smaller 
sorts  are  some  Trochi  of  two  species  ; 
a  curious  Murex,  rugged  wilks,  and  a 
snail,  all  which  are  probably  pecu- 
liar to  this  place ;  at  least  I  do  not 
recollect  to  have  seen  them  in  any 
country  near  the  same  latitude  in 
either  hemisphere.  There  are  besides 
these  some  small  plain  cockles,  lim- 
pets ;  and  some  strangers  who  came 
into  the  sound,  wore  necklaces  of  a 
small  bluish  volute,  or  Panamce. 
Many  of  the  mussels  are  a  span  in 
length,  and  some  having  pretty  large 
pearls,  which,  however,  are  both  badly 
shaped  and  coloured.  We  may  con- 
clude that  there  is  red  coral  in  the 
sound  or  somewhere  upon  the  coast ; 
some  thick  pieces  or  branches  having 
been  seen  in  the  canoes  of  the  natives. 
The  only  animals  of  the  reptile  kind 
observed  here,  and  found  in  the  woods, 
were  brown  snakes  two  feet  long,  with 
whitish  stripes  on  the  back  and  sides, 
which  are  harmless,  as  we  often  saw 
the  natives  carry  them  alive  in  their 
hands  ;  and  brownish  water-lizards, 
with  a  tail  exactly  like  that  of  an  eel, 
which  frequented  the  small  standing 
pools  about  the  rocks.  The  insect 
tribe  seem  to  be  more  numerous.  For 
though  the  season  which  is  peculiarly 


fitted  to  their  appearing  abroad  was 
only  beginning,  we  saw  four  or  five 
different  sorts  of  butterflies,  none  of 
which  were  uncommon ;  a  good  many 
humble  bees ;  some  of  our  common 
gooseberry  moths  ;  two  or  three  sorts 
of  flies ;  a  few  beetles ;  and  some  mos- 
quitoes, which  probably  may  be  more 
numerous  and  troublesome,  in  a  coun- 
try so  full  of  wood,  during  the  summer, 
though  at  this  time  they  did  little 
mischief. 

As  to  the  mineral  substances  in  this 
country,  though  we  found  both  iron 
and  copper  here,  there  is  little  reason 
to  believe  that  either  of  them  belong 
to  the  place.  Neither  were  the  ores  of 
any  metal  seen,  if  we  except  a  coarse, 
red,  earthy  or  ochry  substance  used 
by  the  natives  in  painting  themselves, 
which  probably  may  contain  a  little 
iron,  with  a  white  and  black  pigment 
used  for  the  same  purpose.  But  we 
did  not  procure  specimens  of  them, 
and  therefore  cannot  positively  deter- 
mine what  are  their  component  parts. 
Besides  the  stone  or  rock  that  consti- 
tutes the  mountains  and  shores,  which 
sometimes  contains  pieces  of  very 
coarse  quartz,  we  found  amongst  the 
natives  things  made  of  a  hard  black 
granite,  though  not  remarkably  com- 
pact or  fine  grained  ;  a  greyish  whet- 
stone ;  the  common  oil-stone  of  our 
carpenters,  in  coarser  and  finer  pieces ; 
and  some  black  bits  which  are  little 
inferior  to  the  hone-stone.  The  natives 
also  use  the  transparent  leafy  "glim- 
mer," or  muscovy  glass ;  a  brown  leafy 
or  martial  sort ;  and  they  sometimes 
brought  to  us  pieces  of  rock  crystal, 
tolerably  transparent.  The  first  two 
are  probably  found  near  the  spot,  as 
they  seemed  to  be  in  considerable 
quantities ;  but  the  latter  seems  to  be 
brouglit  from  a  greater  distance,  or  is 
very  scarce,  for  our  visitors  always 
parted  with  it  reluctantly.  Some  of 
the  pieces  were  octangular,  and  had 
the  appearance  of  being  formed  into 
that  shape  by  art. 

The  persons  of  the  natives  are  in 
general  under  the  common  stature,  but 
not  slender  in  proportion,  being  com- 
monly pretty  full  or  plump,  though 
not  muscular.  Neither  doth  the  soft 


APRIL  1778.]     PERSONAL  APPEARANCE  OF  NATIVES. 


259 


fleshiness  seem  ever  to  swell  into  cor- 
pulence ;  and  many  of  the  older  people 
are  rather  spare  or  lean.  The  visage 
of  most  of  them  is  round  and  full, 
and  sometimes  also  broad,  with  large 
prominent  cheeks ;  and  above  these 
the  face  is  frequently  much  depressed, 
or  seems  fallen  in  quite  across  between 
the  temples  ;  the  nose  also  flattening 
at  its  base,  with  pretty  wide  nostrils 
and  a  rounded  point.  The  forehead 
rather  low ;  the  eyes  small,  black,  and 
rather  languishing  than  sparkling ; 
the  mouth  round,  with  large  round 
thickish  lips ;  the  teeth  tolerably 
equal  and  well  set,  but  not  remark- 
ably white.  They  have  either  no 
beards  at  all,  which  was  most  com- 
monly the  case,  or  a  small  thin  one 
upon  the  point  of  the  chin,  which 
does  not  arise  from  any  natural  defect 
of  hair  on  that  part,  but  from  pluck- 
ing it  out  more  or  less  ;  for  some  of 
them,  and  particularly  the  old  men, 
have  not  only  considerable  beards  all 
over  the  chin,  but  whiskers  or  mous- 
taches both  on  the  upper  lip  and 
running  from  thence  towards  the  lower 
jaw  obliquely  downward.  Their  eye- 
brows are  also  scanty,  and  always 
narrow ;  but  the  hair  of  the  head  is 
in  great  abundance,  very  coarse  and 
strong,  and  without  a  single  exception 
black,  straight,  and  lank,  or  hanging 
down  over  the  shoulders.  The  neck 
is  short ;  the  arms  and  body  have  no 
particular  mark  of  beauty  or  elegance 
in  their  formation,  but  are  rather 
clumsy ;  and  the  limbs  in  all  are  very 
small  in  proportion  to  the  other  parts, 
and  crooked  or  ill  made,  with  large 
feet  badly  shaped,  and  projecting 
ankles.  This  last  defect  seems  in  a 
great  measure  to  arise  from  their  sit- 
ting so  much  on  their  hams  or  knees, 
both  in  their  canoes  and  houses. 

Their  colour  we  could  never  posi- 
tively determine,  as  their  bodies  were 
incrusted  with  paint  and  dirt,  though 
in  particular  cases,  when  these  were 
well  rubbed  off,  the  whiteness  of  the 
skin  appeared  almost  to  equal  that  of 
Europeans,  though  rather  of  that  pale 
effete  cast  which  distinguishes  those 
of  our  southern  nations.  Their  chil- 
dren, whose  skins  had  never  been 


stained  with  paint,  also  equalled  ours 
in  whiteness.  During  their  youth 
some  of  them  have  no  disagreeable 
look,  if  compared  to  the  generality  of 
the  people  ;  but  this  seems  to  be  en- 
tirely owing  to  the  particular  anima- 
tion attending  that  period  of  life,  for 
after  attaining  a  certain  age  there  is 
hardly  any  distinction.  Upon  the 
whole,  a  very  remarkable  sameness 
seems  to  characterise  the  counten- 
ances of  the  whole  nation  ;  a  dull 
phlegmatic  want  of  expression,  with 
very  little  variation,  being  strongly 
marked  in  all  of  them.  The  women 
are  nearly  of  the  same  size,  colour, 
and  form  with  the  men,  from  whom 
it  is  not  easy  to  distinguish  them,  as 
they  possess  no  natural  delicacies  suffi- 
cient to  render  their  persons  agreeable ; 
and  hardly  any  one  was  seen,  even 
amongst  those  who  were  in  the  prime 
of  life,  who  had  the  least  pretensions 
to  be  called  handsome. 

Their  common  dress  is  a  flaxen  gar- 
ment, or  mantle,  ornamented  on  the 
upper  edge  by  a  narrow  strip  of  fur, 
and  at  the  lower  edge  by  fringes  or 
tassels.  It  passes  under  the  left  arm, 
and  is  tied  over  the  right  shoulder  by 
a  string  before  and  one  behind,  near 
its  middle,  by  which  means  both 
arms  are  free ;  and  it  hangs  evenly, 
covering  the  left  side,  but  leaving  the 
right  open,  except  from  the  loose  part 
of  the  edges  falling  upon  it,  unless 
when  the  mantle  is  fastened  by  a 
girdle  (of  coarse  matting  or  woollen) 
round  the  waist,  which  is  often  done. 
Over  this,  which  reaches  below  the 
knees,  is  worn  a  small  cloak  of  the 
same  substance,  likewise  fringed  at  the 
lower  part.  In  shape  this  resembles 
a  round  dish-cover,  being  quite  close 
except  in  the  middle,  where  there  is 
a  hole  just  large  enough  to  admit  the 
head ;  and  then,  resting  upon  the 
shoulders,  it  covers  the  arms  to  the 
elbows  and  the  body  as  far  as  the 
waist.  Their  head  is  covered  with  a 
cap  of  the  figure  of  a  truncated  cone, 
or  like  a  flower-pot,  made  of  fine 
matting,  having  the  top  frequently 
ornamented  with  a  round  or  pointed 
knob  or  a  bunch  of  leathern  tassels  ; 
and  there  is  a  string  that  passes  under 


260 


the  chin  to  prevent  its  blowing  off. 
Besides  the  above  dress,  which  is  com- 
mon to  both  sexes,  the  men  frequently 
throw  over  their  other  garments  the 
skin  of  a  bear,  wolf,  or  sea-otter,  with 
the  hair  outward,  and  tie  it  as  a  cloak 
near  the  upper  part,  wearing  it  some- 
times before  and  sometimes  behind. 
In  rainy  weather  they  throw  a  coarse 
mat  about  their  shoulders.  They 
have  also  woollen  garments,  which, 
however,  are  little  in  use.  The  hair  is 
commonly  worn  hanging  down  loose  ; 
but  some,  when  they  have  no  cap,  tie  it 
in  a  bunch  on  the  crown  of  the  head. 
Their  dress  upon  the  whole  is  con- 
venient, and  would  by  no  means  be 
inelegant  were  it  kept  clean.  But  as 
they  rub  their  bodies  constantly  over 
with  a  red  paint  of  a  clayey  or  coarse 
ochry  substance  mixed  with  oil,  their 
garments  by  this  means  contract  a 
rancid  offensive  smell  and  a  greasy 
nastiness.  So  that  they  make  a  very 
wretched  dirty  appearance ;  and  what 
is  still  worse,  their  heads  and  their 
garments  swarm  with  vermin,  which, 
ao  depraved  is  their  taste  for  cleanli- 
ness, we  used  to  see  them  pick  off  with 
great  composure  and  eat. 

Though  their  bodies  are  always 
covered  with  red  paint,  their  faces  are 
often  stained  with  a  black,  a  bright 
red,  or  a  white  colour,  by  way  of 
ornament.  The  last  of  these  gives 
them  a  ghastly,  disgusting  aspect. 
They  also  strew  the  brown  martial 
mica  upon  the  paint,  which  makes  it 
glitter.  The  ears  of  many  of  them 
are  perforated  in  the  lobe,  where  they 
make  a  pretty  large  hole,  and  two 
others  higher  up  on  the  outer  edge. 
In  these  holes  they  hang  bits  of  bone, 
quills  fixed  upon  a  leathern  thong, 
small  shells,  bunches  of  woollen  tas- 
sels, or  pieces  of  thin  copper,  which 
our  beads  could  never  supplant.  The 
septum  of  the  nose  in  many  is  also 
perforated,  through  which  they  draw 
a  piece  of  soft  cord  ;  and  others  wear 
at  the  same  place  small  thin  pieces  of 
iron,  brass,  or  copper,  shaped  almost 
like  a  horseshoe,  the  narrow  opening 
of  which  receives  the  septum  so  as  that 
the  two  points  may  gently  pinch  it, 
and  the  ornament  thus  hangs  over  the 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.        [Voy.  IILB.IV.CH.il. 
upper  lip.    The  rings  of  our  brass  but- 


tons, which  they  eagerly  purchased, 
were  appropriated  to  this  use.  About 
their  wrists  they  wear  bracelets  or 
bunches  of  white  bugle  beads,  made 
of  a  conic  shelly  substance  ;  bunches 
of  thongs  with  tassels ;  or  a  broad, 
black,  shining,  horny  substance,  of 
one  piece.  And  about  their  ankles 
they  also  frequently  wear  many  folds 
of  leathern  thongs,  or  the  sinews  of 
animals  twisted  to  a  considerable 
thickness. 

Thus  far  of  their  ordinary  dress  and 
ornaments  ;  but  they  have  some  that 
seem  to  be  used  only  on  extraordinary- 
occasions,  either  when  they  exhibit 
themselves  as  strangers,  in  visits  of 
ceremony,  or  when  they  go  to  war. 
Amongst  the  first  may  be  considered 
the  skins  of  animals,  such  as  wolves 
or  bears,  tied  on  in  the  usual  manner, 
but  ornamented  at  the  edges  with 
broad  borders  of  fur,  or  of  the  woollen 
stuff  manufactured  by  them,  ingeni- 
ously wrought  with  various  figures. 
These  are  worn  either  separately  or 
over  their  other  common  garments. 
On  such  occasions  the  most  common 
headdress  is  a  quantity  of  withe,  or 
half-beaten  bark,  wrapped  about  the 
head,  which  at  the  same  time  has 
various  large  feathers,  particularly 
those  of  eagles,  stuck  in  it,  or  is  en- 
tirely covered,  or  we  may  say  powdered, 
with  small  white  feathers.  The  face, 
at  the  same  time,  is  variously  painted, 
having  its  upper  and  lower  parts  of 
different  colours,  the  strokes  appearing 
like  fresh  gashes  ;  or  it  is  besmeared 
with  a  kind  of  tallow,  mixed  with 
paint,  which  is  afterward  formed  into 
a  great  variety  of  regular  figures,  and 
appears  like  carved  work.  Some- 
times, again,  the  hair  is  separated  into 
small  parcels,  which  are  tied  at  inter- 
vals of  about  two  inches,  to  the  end, 
with  thread ;  and  others  tie  it  together 
behind,  after  our  manner,  and  stick 
branches  of  the  Cypressus  thyoides  in 
it.  Thus  dressed,  they  have  a  truly 
savage  and  incongruous  appearance  ; 
but  this  is  much  heightened  when 
they  assume  what  may  be  called  their 
monstrous  decorations.  These  consist 
of  an  endless  variety  of  carved  wooden 


ipRiLl778.]      OF  THEIK  ORNAMENTS  AND  WOODEN  MASKS.     261 


masks  or  visors  applied  on  the  face, 
or  to  the  upper  part  of  the  head  or 
forehead.  Some  of  these  resemble 
human  faces,  furnished  with  hair, 
beards,  and  eye-brows ;  others,  the 
heads  of  birds,  particularly  of  eagles 
and  "  quebrantahuesos  ;"  and  many, 
the  heads  of  land  and  sea  animals, 
such  as  wolves,  deer,  porpoises,  and 
others.  But  in  general  these  repre- 
sentations much  exceed  the  natural 
size  ;  and  they  are  painted,  and  often 
strewed  with  pieces  of  the  foliaceous 
mica,  which  makes  them  glitter,  and 
serves  to  augment  their  enormous  de- 
formity. They  even  exceed  this  some- 
times, and  fix  on  the  same  part  of  the 
head  large  pieces  of  carved  work,  re- 
sembling the  prow  of  a  canoe,  painted 
in  the  same  manner,  and  projecting 
to  a  considerable  distance.  So  fond 
are  they  of  these  disguises,  that  I  have 
seen  one  of  them  put  his  head  into  a 
tin  kettle  he  had  got  from  us,  for  want 
of  another  sort  of  mask.  Whether 
they  use  these  extravagant  masquerade 
ornaments  on  any  particular  religious 
occasion  or  diversion ;  or  whether  they 
be  put  on  to  intimidate  their  enemies 
when  they  go  to  battle,  by  their  mon- 
strous appearance,  or  as  decoys  when 
they  go  to  hunt  animals,  is  uncertain. 
But  it  may  be  concluded  that  if  tra- 
vellers or  voyagers  in  an  ignorant  and 
credulous  age,  when  many  unnatural 
or  marvellous  things  were  supposed  to 
exist,  had  seen  a  number  of  people 
decorated  in  this  manner,  without 
being  able  to  approach  so  near  as  to 
be  undeceived,  they  would  readily 
have  believed,  and  in  their  relations, 
would  have  attempted  to  make  others 
believe,  that  there  existed  a  race  of 
beings  partaking  of  the  nature  of  man 
and  beast ;  more  especially  when, 
besides  the  heads  of  animals  on  the 
human  shoulders,  they  might  have 
seen  the  whole  bodies  of  their  men- 
monsters  covered  with  quadrupeds' 
skins. 

The  only  dress  amongst  the  people 
of  Nootka  observed  by  us  that  seems 
peculiarly  adapted  to  war,  is  a  thick 
leathern  mantle  doubled,  which  from 
its  size  appears  to  be  the  skin  of  an 
elk  or  buffalo  tanned.  This  they 


iasten  on  in  the  common  manner ;  and 
t  is  so  contrived  that  it  may  reach 
up  and  cover  the  breast  quite  to  the 
throat,  falling  at  the  same  time 
almost  to  the  heels.  It  is  sometimes 
ngeniously  painted  in  different  com- 
partments, and  is  not  only  sufficiently 
strong  to  resist  arrows,  but,  as  they 
informed  us  by  signs,  even  spears 
cannot  pierce  it,  so  that  it  may  be 
considered  as  their  coat  of  mail  or 
most  complete  defensive  armour. 
[Jpon  the  same  occasion  they  some- 
times wear  a  kind  of  leathern  cloak, 
covered  with  rows  of  dried  hoofs  of 
deer  disposed  horizontally,  appended 
by  leathern  thongs  covered  with 
quills ;  which  when  they  move  make 
a  loud  rattling  noise,  almost  equal  to 
that  of  many  small  •  bells.  It  seems 
doubtful,  however,  whether  this  part 
of  their  garb  be  intended  to  strike 
terror  in  war,  or  only  is  to  be  con- 
sidered as  belonging  to  their  eccentric 
ornaments  on  ceremonious  occasions, 
for  we  saw  one  of  their  musical  en- 
tertainments conducted  by  a  man 
dressed  in  this  sort  of  cloak,  with  his 
mask  on,  and  shaking  his  rattle. 

Though  these  people  cannot  be 
viewed  without  a  kind  of  horror  when 
equipped  in  such  extravagant  dresses, 
yet  when  divested  of  them  and  beheld 
in  their  common  habit  and  actions, 
they  have  not  the  least  appearance  of 
ferocity  in  their  countenances;  and 
seem  on  the  contrary,  as  observed 
already,  to  be  of  a  quiet,  phlegmatic, 
and  inactive  disposition,  destitute  in 
some  measure  of  that  degree  of  ani- 
mation and  vivacity  that  would  render 
them  agreeable  as  social  beings.  If 
they  are  not  reserved,  they  are  far 
from  being  loquacious;  but  their 
gravity  is  perhaps  rather  _  a  conse- 
quence of  the  disposition  just  men- 
tioned than  of  any  conviction  of  its 
propriety,  or  the  effect  of  any  parti- 
cular mode  of  education.  For  even 
in  the  greatest  paroxysms  of  their 
rage  they  seem  unable  to  express  it 
sufficiently,  either  with  warmth  of 
language  or  significancy  of  gestures. 
Their  orations,  which  are  made  either 
when  engaged  in  any  altercation  or 
dispute,  or  to  explain  their  sentiments 


262 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.        [Voy.  III.  B.  IV.  dr.  II. 


publicly  on  other  occasions,  seem 
little  more  than  short  sentences,  or 
rather  single  words,  forcibly  repeated 
and  constantly  in  one  tone  and  degree 
of  strength,  accompanied  only  with 
a  single  gesture,  which  they  use  at 
every  sentence,  jerking  their  whole 
body  a  little  forward  by  bending  the 
knees,  their  arms  hanging  down  by 
their  sides  at  the  same  time. 

Though  there  be  but  too  much 
reason,  from  their  bringing  to  sale 
human  skulls  and  bones,  to  infer 
that  they  treat  their  enemies  with  a 
degree  of  brutal  cruelty,  this  circum- 
stance rather  marks  a  general  agree- 
ment of  character  with  that  of  almost 
every  tribe  of  uncivilised  man  in 
every  age  and  in  every  part  of  the 
globe,  than  that  they  are  to  be  re- 
proached with  any  charge  of  peculiar 
inhumanity.  "We  had  no  reason  to 
judge  unfavourably  of  their  disposi- 
tion in  this  respect.  They  seem  to 
be  a  docile,  courteous,  good-natured 
people ;  but,  notwithstanding  the  pre- 
dominant phlegm  of  their  tempers, 
quick  in  resenting  what  they  look 
upon  as  an  injury,  and,  like  most 
other  passionate  people,  as  soon  for- 
getting it.  I  never  found  that  these 
fits  of  passion  went  further  than  the 
parties  immediately  concerned ;  the 
spectators  not  troubling  themselves 
about  the  quarrel,  whether  it  was 
with  any  of  us  or  amongst  their  own 
body,  and  preserving  as  much  indif- 
ference as  if  they  had  not  known  any- 
thing about  it.  I  have  often  seen  one 
of  them  rave  and  scold,  without  any 
of  his  countrymen  paying  the  least 
attention  to  his  agitation,  and  when 
none  of  us  could  trace  the  cause  or 
the  object  of  his  displeasure.  In  such 
cases  they  never  discover  the  least 
symptom  of  timidity,  but  seem  deter- 
mined at  all  events  to  punish  the 
insult.  For  even  with  respect  to  us 
they  never  appeared  to  be  under  the 
least  apprehension  of  our  superiority ; 
but,  when  any  difference  happened, 
were  just  as  ready  to  avenge  the 
wrong  as  amongst  themselves. 

Their  other  passions,  especially  their 
curiosity,  appear  in  some  measure  to 
lie  dormant.  For  few  expressed  any 


desire  to  see  or  examine  things  wholly 
unknown  to  them,  and  which,  to 
those  truly  possessed  of  that  passion, 
would  have  appeared  astonishing. 
They  were  always  contented  to  pro- 
cure the  articles  they  knew  and 
wanted,  regarding  everything  else 
with  great  indifference;  nor  did  our 
persons,  apparel,  and  manners,  so  dif- 
ferent from  their  own,  or  even  the 
extraordinary  size  and  construction  of 
our  ships,  seem  to  excite  admiration 
or  even  engage  attention.  One  cause 
of  this  may  be  their  indolence,  which 
seems  considerable.  But  on  the  other 
hand  they  are  certainly  not  wholly 
unsusceptible  of  the  tender  passions, 
if  we  may  judge  from  their  being  so 
fond  of  music,  which  is  mostly  of  the 
grave  or  serious  but  truly  pathetic 
sort.  They  keep  the  exactest  concert 
in  their  songs,  which  are  often  sung 
by  great  numbers  together,  as  those 
already  mentioned  with  which  they 
used  to  entertain  us  in  their  canoes. 
These  are  generally  slow  and  solemn ; 
but  the  music  is  not  of  that  confined 
sort  found  amongst  many  rude  nations, 
for  the  variations  are  very  numerous 
and  expressive,  and  the  cadence  or 
melody  powerfully  soothing.  Besides 
their  full  concerts,  sonnets  of  the 
same  grave  cast  were  frequently  sung 
by  single  performers,  who  keep  time 
by  striking  the  hand  against  the 
thigh.  However,  the  music  was 
sometimes  varied  from  its  predomi- 
nant solemnity  of  air,  and  there  were 
instances  of  stanzas  being  sung  in  a 
more  gay  and  lively  strain,  and  even 
with  a  degree  of  humour. 

The  only  instruments  of  music  (if 
such  they  may  be  called)  which  I  saw 
amongst  them  were  a  rattle,  and  a 
small  whistle,  about  an  inch  long, 
incapable  of  any  variation,  from 
having  but  one  hole.  They  use  the 
rattle  when  they  sing ;  but  upon 
what  occasions  they  use  the  whistle 
I  know  not,  unless  it  be  when  they 
dress  themselves  like  particular  ani- 
mals, and  endeavour  to  imitate  their 
howl  or  cry.  I  once  saw  one  of  them 
dressed  in  a  wolf-skfri,  with  the  head 
over  his  own,  and  imitating  that 
animal  by  making  a  squeaking  noiso 


APRIL  1778.]    EAGERNESS  TO  POSSESS  IRON  AND  BRASS.          263 


with  one  of  these  whistles,  which  he 
had  in  his  month.  The  rattles  are 
for  the  most  part  made  in  the  shape 
of  a  bird,  with  a  few  pebbles  in  the 
belly;  and  the  tail  is  the  handle. 
They  have  others,  however,  that  bear 
rather  more  resemblance  to  a  child's 
rattle. 

In  trafficking  with  us,  some  of  them 
would  betray  a  knavish  disposition, 
and  carry  off  our  goods  without 
making  any  return.  But  in  general 
it  was  otherwise  ;  and  we  had  abun- 
dant reason  to  commend  the  fairness 
of  their  conduct.  However,  their 
eagerness  to  possess  iron  and  brass, 
and  indeed  any  kind  of  metal,  was  so 
great,  that  few  of  them  could  resist 
the  temptation  to  steal  it  whenever  an 
opportunity  offered.  The  inhabitants 
of  the  South  Sea  Islands,  as  appears 
from  a*  variety  of  instances  in  the 
course  of  this  voyage,  rather  than  be 
idle,  would  steal  anything  that  they 
eould  lay  their  hands  upon,  without 
ever  considering  whether  it  could  be 
of  use  to  them  or  no.  The  novelty 
of  the  object  with  them  was  a  suffici- 
ent motive  for  endeavouring  by  any 
indirect  means  to  get  possession  of  it ; 
which  marked  that  in  such  cases  they 
were  rather  actuated  by  a  childish 
curiosity  than  by  a  dishonest  disposi- 
tion, regardless  of  the  modes  of  sup- 
plying real  wants.  The  inhabitants 
of  Nootka,  who  invaded  our  property, 
cannot  have  such  apology  made  for 
them.  They  were  thieves  in  the 
strictest  sense  of  the  word  ;  for  they 
pilfered  nothing  from  us  but  what 
they  knew  could  be  converted  to  the 
purposes  of  private  utility,  and  had  a 
real  value  according  to  their  estima- 
tion of  things.  And  it  was  lucky  for 
us  that  nothing  was  thought  valu- 
able by  them  but  the  single  articles 
of  our  metals.  Linen  and  such  like 
things  were  perfectly  secure  from  their 
depredations  ;  and  we  could  safely 
leave  them  hanging  out  ashore  all 
night  without  watching.  The  same 

Erinciple  which  prompted  our  Nootka 
*iends  to  pilfer  from  us,  it  was  na- 
tural to   suppose,    would  produce   a 
similar  conduct  in  their  intercourse 
with  each  other.    And  accordingly  we 


had  abundant  reason  to  believe,  that 
stealing  is  much  practised  amongst 
them,  and  that  it  chiefly  gives  rise  to 
their  quarrels,  of  which  we  saw  more 
than  one  instance. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  two  towns  or  villages  men- 
tioned in  the  course  of  my  Journal 
seem  to  be  the  only  inhabited  parts 
of  the  sound.  The  number  of  in- 
habitants in  both  might  be  pretty 
exactly  computed  from  the  canoes 
that  were  about  the  ships  the  second 
day  after  our  arrival.  They  amounted 
to  about  a  hundred,  which,  at  a  very 
moderate  allowance,  must  upon  an 
average  have  held  five  persons  each. 
But  as  there  were  scarcely  any  women, 
very  old  men,  children,  or  youths 
amongst  them  at  that  time,  I  think 
it  will  rather  be  rating  the  number  of 
the  inhabitants  of  the  two  towns  too 
low  if  we  suppose  they  could  be  less 
than  four  times  the  number  of  our 
visitors,  that  is,  2000  in  the  whole. 

The  village  at  the  entrance  of  the 
sound  stands  on  the  side  of  a  rising 
ground,  which  has  a  pretty  steep 
ascent  from  the  beach  to  the  verge  of 
the  wood,  in  which  space  it  is  situated. 
The  houses  are  disposed  in  three 
ranges  or  rows,  rising  gradually  be- 
hind each  other,  the  largest  being 
that  in  front,  and  the  others  less  ; 
besides  a  few  straggling  or  single 
ones  at  each  end.  These  ranges  are 
interrupted  or  disjoined  at  irregular 
distances  by  narrow  paths  or  lanes 
that  pass  upward  ;  but  those  which 
run  in  the  direction  of  the  houses 
between  the  rows  are  much  broader. 
Though  there  be  some  appearance  of 
regularity  in  this  disposition,  there  is 
none  in  the  single  houses  ;  for  each 
of  the  divisions  made  by  the  paths 
may  be  considered  either  as  one  housj 
or  as  many,  there  being  no  regular  or 
complete  separation  either  without  or 
within  to  distinguish  them  by.  They 
are  built  of  very  long  and  broad 
planks,  resting  upon  the  edges  of 
each  other,  fastened  or  tied  by  withes 


264 

of  pine-bark  here  and  there,  and  have 
only  slender  posts,  or  rather  poles,  at 
considerable  distances  on  the  outside, 
to  which  they  are  also  tied;  but 
within  are  some  larger  poles  placed 
aslant.  The  height  of  the  sides  and 
ends  of  these  habitations  is  seven  or 
eight  feet;  but  the  back  part  is  a 
little  higher,  by  which  means  the 
planks  that  compose  the  roof  slant 
forward,  and  are  laid  on  loose  so  as  to 
be  moved  about,  either  to  be  put  close 
to  exclude  the  rain,  or  in  fair  weather 
to  be  separated  to  let  in  the  light  and 
carry  out  the  smoke.  They  are,  how- 
ever, upon  the  whole,  miserable 
dwellings,  and  constructed  with  little 
care  or  ingenuity.  For  though  the 
side  planks  be  made  to  fit  pretty 
closely  in  some  places,  in  others  they 
are  quite  open  ;  and  there  are  no 
regular  doors  into  them,  the  only 
way  of  entrance  being  either  by  a 
hole,  where  the  unequal  length  of  the 
planks  has  accidentally  left  an  open- 
ing ;  or  in  some  cases  planks  are 
made  to  pass  a  little  beyond  each 
other,  or  overlap,  about  two  feet 
asunder,  and  the  entrance  is  in  this 
space.  There  are  also  holes  or  win- 
dows in  the  sides  of  the  houses  to 
look  out  at,  but  without  any  regu- 
larity of  shape  or  disposition  ;  and 
these  have  bits  of  mat  hung  before 
them  to  prevent  the  rain  getting  in. 

On  the  inside  one  may  frequently 
see  from  one  end  to  the  other  of  these 
ranges  of  building  without  interrup- 
tion. For  though  in  general  there 
be  the  rudiments,  or  rather  vestiges, 
of  separations  on  each  side  for  the 
accommodation  of  different  families, 
they  are  such  as  do  not  intercept  the 
sjght ;  and  often  consist  of  no  more 
than  pieces  of  plank  running  from 
the  side  toward  the  middle  of  the 
house,  so  that,  if  they  were  com- 
plete, the  whole  might  be  compared 
to  a  long  stable,  with  a  double  range 
of  stalls,  and  a  broad  passage  in  the 
middle.  Close  to  the  sides,  in  each 
of  these  parts,  is  a  little  bench  of 
boards,  raised  five  or  six  inches  higher 
than  the  rest  of  the  floor,  and  covered 
with  mats,  on  which  the  family  sit  and 
Bleep.  These  benches  are  commonly 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.      [VoY.  III.  B.IV.  CH.  III. 


seven  or  eight  feet  long,  and  four  or 
five  broad.  In  the  middle  of  the 
floor,  between  them,  is  the  fireplace, 
which  has  neither  hearth  nor  chimney. 
In  one  house,  which  was  in  the  end  of 
a  middle  range,  almost  quite  separated 
from  the  rest  by  a  high  close  parti- 
tion, and  the  most  regular  as  to  de- 
sign of  any  that  I  saw,  there  were 
four  of  these  benches,  each  of  which 
held  a  single  family  at  a  corner,  but 
without  any  separation  by  boards ; 
and  the  middle  part  of  the  house  ap- 
peared common  to  them  all. 

Their  furniture  consists  chiefly  of 
a  great  number  of  chests  and  boxes  of 
all  sizes,  which  are  generally  piled 
upon  each  other  close  to  the  sides  or 
ends  of  the  house,  and  contain  their 
spare  garments,  skins,  masks,  and 
other  things  which  they  set  "a  value 
upon.  Some  of  these  are  double,  or 
one  covers  the  other  as  a  lid  ;  others 
have  a  lid  fastened  with  thongs ;  and 
some  of  the  very  large  ones  have  a 
square  hole  or  scuttle  cut  in  the  upper 
part,  by  which  the  things  are  put  in 
and  taken  out.  They  are  often  painted 
black,  studded  with  the  teeth  of  differ- 
ent animals,  or  carved  with  a  kind  of 
frieze-work,  and  figures  of  birds  or 
animals,  as  decorations.  Their  other 
domestic  utensils  are  mostly  square 
and  oblong  pails  or  buckets  to  hold 
water  and  other  things ;  round  wooden 
cups  and  bowls,  and  small  shallow 
wooden  troughs  about  two  feet  long, 
out  of  which  they  eat  their  food ;  and 
baskets  of  twigs,  bags  of  matting,  &c. 
Their  fishing  implements  and  other 
things  also  lie  or  hang  up  in  different 
parts  of  the  house,  but  without  the 
least  order,  so  that  the  whole  is  a 
complete  scene  of  confusion  ;  and  the 
only  places  that  do  not  partake  of  this 
confusion  are  the  sleeping-benches, 
that  have  nothing  on  them  but  the 
mats,  which  are  also  cleaner  or  of  a 
finer  sort  than  those  they  commonly 
have  to  sit  on  in  their  boats.  The 
nastiness  and  stench  of  their  houses 
are,  however,  at  least  equal  to  the 
confusion.  For  as  they  dry  their  fish 
withindoors,  they  also  gut  them  there ; 
which,  with  their  bones  and  fragments 
thrown  down  at  meals,  .and  the  addi- 


APRIL  1778.]  WOODEN 

tion  of  other  sorts  of  filth,  lie  every- 
where in  heaps,  and  are,  I  believe, 
never  carried  away  till  it  "becomes 
troublesome  from  their  size  to  walk 
over  them.  In  a  word,  their  houses 
are  as  filthy  as  hog -sties ;  everything 
in  and  about  them  stinking  of  fish, 
train-oil,  and  smoke. 

But  amidst  all  the  filth  and  confu- 
sion that  are  found  in  the  houses, 
many  of  them  are  decorated  with 
images.  These  are  nothing  more 
than  the  trunks  of  very  large  trees, 
four  or  five  feet  high,  set  up  singly 
or  by  pairs  at  the  upper  end  of  the 
apartment,  with  the  front  carved  into 
a  human  face,  the  arms  and  hands 
cut  out  upon  the  sides,  and  variously 
painted ;  so  that  the  whole  is  a  truly 
monstrous  figure.  The  general  name 
of  these  images  is  "klumma;"  and 
the  names  of  two  particular  ones, 
which  stood  abreast  of  each  other, 
three  or  four  feet  asunder,  in  one  of 
the  houses,  were  "Natchkoa"  and 
"Matseeta."  A  mat,  by  way  of 
curtain,  for  the  most  part  hung  before 
them,  which  the  natives  were  not 
willing  at  all  times  to  remove;  and 
when  they  did  unveil  them  they 
seemed  to  speak  of  them  in  a  very 
mysterious  manner.  It  should  seem 
that  they  are  at  times  accustomed  to 
make  offerings  to  them;  if  we  can 
draw  this  inference  from  their  desir- 
ing us,  as  we  interpreted  their  signs, 
to  give  something  to  these  images 
when  they  drew  aside  the  mats  that 
covered  them.  It  was  natural  from 
these  circumstances  for  us  to  think 
that  they  were  representatives  of  their 
gods,  or  symbols  of  some  religious  or 
superstitious  object ;  and  yet  we  had 
proofs  of  the  little  real  estimation 
they  were  in,  for  with  a  small  quantity 
of  iron  or  brass  I  could  have  purchased 
all  the  gods  (if  their  images  were  such) 
in  the  place.  I  did  not  see  one  that 
was  not  offered  to  me ;  and  I  actually 
got  two  or  three  of  the  very  smallest 
sort. 

The  chief  employment  of  the  men 
seems  to  be  that  of  fishing,  and  killing 
land  or  sea  animals,  for  the  sustenance 
of  their  families,  for  we  saw  few  of 
them  doing  anything  in  the  houses ; 


IMAGES.  265 

whereas  the  women  were  occupied  in 
manufacturing  their  flaxen  or  woollen 
garments,  and  in  preparing  the  sar- 
dines for  drying,  which  they  also  carry 
up  from  the  beach  in  twig-baskets 
after  the  men  have  brought  them  in 
their  canoes.  The  women  are  also 
sent  in  the  small  canoes  to  gather 
mussels  and  other  shell-fish,  and  per- 
haps on  some  other  occasions ;  for 
they  manage  these  with  as  much  dex- 
terity as  the  men,  who,  when  in  the 
canoes  with  them,  seem  to  pay  little 
attention  to  their  sex  by  offering  to 
relieve  them  from  the  labour  of  the 
paddle,  nor  indeed  do  they  treat  them 
with  any  particular  respect  or  tender- 
ness in  other  situations.  The  young 
men  appeared  to  be  the  most  indolent 
or  idle  set  in  this  community;  for 
they  were  either  sitting  about  in  scat- 
tered companies  to  bask  themselves 
in  the  sun,  or  lay  wallowing  in  the 
sand  upon  the  beach  like  a  number  of 
hogs,  for  the  same  purpose,  without 
any  covering.  But  this  disregard  of 
decency  was  confined  to  the  men. 
The  women  were  always  properly 
clothed,  and  behaved  with  the  utmost 
propriety,  justly  deserving  all  com- 
mendation for  a  bashfulness  and  mo- 
desty becoming  their  sex ;  but  more 
meritorious  in  them  as  the  men  seem 
to  have  no  sense  of  shame.  It  is 
impossible,  however,  that  we  should 
have  been  able  to  observe  the  exact 
mode  of  their  domestic  life  and  em- 
ployments from  a  single  visit  (as  the 
first  was  quite  transitory)  of  a  few 
hours.  For  it  may  be  easily  supposed 
that  on  such  an  occasion  most  of  the 
labour  of  all  the  inhabitants  of  the 
village  would  cease  upon  our  arrival, 
and  an  interruption  be  given  even  to 
the  usual  manner  of  appearing  in  their 
houses  during  their  more  remiss  or 
sociable  hours,  when  left  to  them- 
selves. We  were  much  better  enabled 
to  form  some  judgment  of  their  dis- 
position, and  in  some  measure  even 
of  their  method  of  living,  from  the 
frequent  visits  so  many  of  them  paid 
us  at  our  ships  in  their  canoes ;  in 
which,  it  should  seem,  they  spend  a 
great  deal  of  time,  at  least  in  the 
summer  season.  For  we  observed 


266 

that  they  not  only  eat  and  sleep  fre- 
quently in  them,  but  strip  off  their 
clothes  and  lay  themselves  along  to 
bask  in  the  sun,  in  the  same  manner 
as  we  had  seen  practised  at  their 
village.  Their  canoes  of  the  larger 
sort  are,  indeed,  sufficiently  spacious 
for  that  purpose,  and  perfectly  dry; 
so  that,  under  shelter  of  a  skin,  they 
are,  except  in  rainy  weather,  much 
more  comfortable  habitations  than 
their  houses. 

Though  their  food,  strictly  speak- 
ing, may  be  said  to  consist  of  every- 
thing animal  or  vegetable  that  they 
can  procure,  the  quantity  of  the  latter 
bears  an  exceedingly  small  proportion 
to  that  of  the  former.  Their  greatest 
reliance  seems  to  be  upon  the  sea  as 
affording  fish,  mussels,  and  smaller 
shell-fish,  and  sea-animals.  Of  the 
first  the  principal  are  herrings  and  sar- 
dines, the  two  species  of  bream  for- 
merly mentioned,  and  small  cod.  But 
the  herrings  and  sardines  are  not  only 
eaten  fresh  in  their  season,  but  like- 
wise serve  as  stores  which,  after  being 
dried  and  smoked,  are  preserved  by 
being  sewed  up  in  mats,  so  as  to  form 
large  bales  three  or  four  feet  square. 
It  seems  that  the  herrings  also  supply 
them  with  another  grand  resource  for 
food,  which  is  a  vast  quantity  of  roe, 
very  curiously  prepared.  It  is  strewed 
upon,  or,  as  it  were,  incrustated  about 
small  branches  of  the  Canadian  pine. 
They  also  prepare  it  upon  a  long  nar- 
row sea-grass  which  grows  plentifully 
upon  the  rocks  under  water.  This 
caviare,  if  it  may  be  so  called,  is  kept 
in  baskets  or  bags  of  mat,  and  used 
occasionally,  being  first  dipped  in 
water.  It  may  be  considered  as  the 
winter  bread  of  these  people,  and  has 
no  disagreeable  taste.  They  also  eat 
the  roe  of  some  other  fish,  which  from 
the  size  of  its  grains  must  be  very 
large,  but  it  has  -a  rancid  taste  and 
smell.  It  does  not  appear  that  they 
prepare  any  other  fish  in  this  manner 
to  preserve  them  for  any  length  of 
time.  For  though  they  split  and  dry 
a  few .  of  the  bream  and  Chimcerce, 
which  are  pretty  plentiful,  they  do  not 
smoke  them  as  the  herrings  and  sar- 
dines. 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.      [Vor.  III.  B.  IV. CH.  III. 


The  next  article  on  which  they 
seem  to  depend  for  a  large  proportion 
of  their  food  is  the  large  mussel,  great 
abundance  of  which  are  found  in  the 
sound.  These  are  roasted  in  their 
shells,  then  stuck  upon  long  wooden 
skewers  and  taken  off  occasionally  as 
wanted,  being  eaten  without  any 
other  preparation,  though  they  often 
dip  them  in  oil  as  a  sauce.  The  other 
marine  productions,  such  as  the  smal- 
ler shell-fish,  though  they  contribute 
to  increase  the  general  stock,  are  by 
no  means  to  be  looked  upon  as  a 
standing  or  material  article  of  their 
food  when  compared  to  those  just 
mentioned.  Of  the  sea-animals  the 
most  common  that  we  saw  in  use 
amongst  them  as  food  is  the  porpoise, 
the  fat  or  rind  of  which,  as  well  as 
the  flesh,  they  cut  in  large  pieces, 
and  having  dried  them  as  they  do  the 
herrings,  eat  them  without  any  fur- 
ther preparation.  They  also  prepare 
a  sort  of  broth  from  this  animal  in  its 
fresh  state  in  a  singular  manner,  put- 
ting pieces  of  it  in  a  square  wooden 
vessel  or  bucket  with  water,  and  then 
throwing  heated  stones  into  it.  This 
operation  they  repeat  till  they  think 
the  contents  are  sufficiently  stewed  or 
seethed.  They  put  in  the  fresh  and 
take  out  the  other  stones  with  a  cleft 
stick,  which  serves  as  tongs,  the  ves- 
sel being  always  placed  near  the  fire 
for  that  purpose.  This  is  a  pretty 
common  dish  amongst  them,  and 
from  its  appearance  seems  to  be 
strong  nourishing  food.  The  oil  which 
they  procure  from  these  and  other  sea- 
animals  is  also  used  by  them  in  great 
quantities,  both  supping  it  alone  with 
a  large  scoop  or  spoon  made  of  horn, 
or  mixing  it  with  other  food  as  sauce. 
It  may  also  be  presumed  that  they 
feed  upon  other  sea-animals,  such  as 
seals,  sea-otters,  and  whales ;  not  only 
from  the  skins  of  the  two  first  being 
frequent  amongst  them,  but  from  the 
great  number  of  implements  of  all 
sorts  intended  to  destroy  these  different 
animals,  which  clearly  points  out  their 
dependence  upon  them .  Though  per- 
"  aps  they  do  not  catch  them  in  great 
plenty  at  all  seasons,  which  seemed 
;o  be  the  case  while  \ve  lay  there,  as 


APRIL  1771] 

no  great  number  of  fresh  skins  or 
pieces  of  the  flesh  were  seen.  The 
same  might  perhaps  be  said  of  the 
land-animals,  which,  though  doubt- 
less the  natives  sometimes  kill  them, 
appeared  to  be  scarce  at  this  time,  as 
we  did  not  see  a  single  piece  of  the 
flesh  belonging  to  any  of  them ;  and 
though  their  skins  be  in  tolerable 
plenty,  it  is  probable  that  many  of 
these  are  procured  by  traffic  from  other 
tribes.  Upon  the  whole,  it  seems 
plain  from  a  variety  of  circumstances 
that  these  people  procure  almost  all 
their  animal  food  from  the  sea,  if  we 
except  a  few  birds,  of  which  the  gulls 
or  sea-fowl,  which  they  shoot  with 
their  arrows,  are  the  most  material. 

As  the  Canadian  pine-branches  and 
sea-grass  on  Avhich  the  fish-roe  is 
strewed  may  be  considered  as  their 
only  winter  vegetables,  so  as  the 
spring  advances  they  make  use  of 
several  others  as  they  come  in  season. 
The  most  common  of  these  which  we 
observed  were  two  sorts  of  liliaceous 
roots,  one  simply  tunicated,  the  other 
granulated  upon  its  surface,  called 
"  mahkatte  "  and  "  koohquoppa," 
which  have  a  mild  sweetish  ft^ste,  and 
are  mucilaginous  and  eaten  ram  The 
next  which  they  have  in  great  quan- 
tities is  a  root  called  "  aheita,"  re- 
sembling in  taste  our  liquorice,  and 
another  fern  root  whose  leaves  were 
not  yet  disclosed.  They  also  eat  raw 
another  small,  sweetish,  insipid  root 
about  the  thickness  of  sarsaparilla, 
but  we  were  ignorant  of  the  plant  to 
which  it  belongs ;  and  also  of  another 
root,  which  is  very  large  and  palmated, 
which  we  saw  them  dig  up  near  the 
village  and  afterward  eat  it.  It  is 
also  probable  that  as  the  season  ad- 
vances they  have  many  others  which 
we  did  not  see.  For  though  there  be 
no  appearance  of  cultivation  amongst 
them,  there  are  great  quantities  of 
alder,  gooseberry,  and  currant-bushes, 
whose  fruit  they  may  eat  in  their 
natural  state,  as  we  have  seen  them  eat 
the  leaves  of  the  last,  and  of  the  lilies, 
just  as  they  were  plucked  from  the 
plant.  It  must,  however,  be  observed 
that  one  of  the  conditions  which  they 
seem  to  require  in  all  food  is,  that  it 


MANNER  OF  PEEPAEIKG  FOOD.  267 


should  be  of  the  bland  or  less  acrid 
kind ;  for  they  would  not  eat  the  leek 
or  garlic,  though  they  brought  vast 
quantities  to  sell  when  they  under- 
stood we  were  fond  of  it.  Indeed 
they  seemed  to  have  no  relish  for  any 
of  our  food ;  and  when  offered  spiritu- 
ous liquors,  they  rejected  them  as 
something  unnatural  and  disgusting 
to  the  palate. 

Though  they  sometimes  eat  small 
marine-animals,  in  their  fresh  state, 
raw,  it  is  their  common  practice  to 
roast  or  broil  their  food ;  for  they  are 
quite  ignorant  of  our  method  of  boil- 
ing, unless  we  allow  that  of  prepar- 
ing their  porpoise  broth  is  such ;  and 
indeed  their  vessels,  being  all  of  wood, 
are  quite  insufficient  for  this  purpose. 
Their  manner  of  eating  is  exactly  con- 
sonant to  the  nastiness  of  their  houses 
and  persons ;  for  the  troughs  and 
platters  in  which  they  put  their  food 
appear  never  to  have  been  washed  from 
the  time  they  were  first  made,  and  the 
dirty  remains  of  a  former  meal  are 
only  swept  away  by  the  succeeding 
one.  They  also  tear  everything  solid 
or  tough  to  pieces  with  their  hands 
and  teeth  ;  for  though  they  make  use 
of  their  knives  to  cut  off  the  larger 
portions,  they  have  not  as  yet  thought 
of  reducing  these  to  smaller  pieces 
and  mouthfuls  by  the  same  means, 
though  obviously  more  convenient  and 
cleanly.  But  they  seem  to  have  no 
idea  of  cleanliness ;  for  they  eat  the 
roots  which  they  dig  from  the  ground 
without  so  much  as  shaking  off  the 
soil  that  adheres  to  them.  We  are 
uncertain  if  they  have  any  set  time 
for  meals  ;  for  we  have  seen  them  eat 
at  all  hours  in  their  canoes.  And  yet, 
from  seeing  several  messes  of  the  por- 
poise broth  preparing  towards  noon, 
when  we  visited  the  village,  I  should 
suspect  that  they  make  a  principal 
meal  about  that  time. 

Their  weapons  are  bows  and  arrows, 
slings,  spears,  short  truncheons  of 
bone  somewhat  like  the  ' '  patoo  patoo  " 
of  New  Zealand,  and  a  small  pick -axe 
not  unlike  the  common  American 
tomahawk.  The  spear  has  generally 
a  long  point  made  of  bone.  Some  uf 
the  arrows  are  pointed  with  iron;  but 


268 

most  commonly  their  points  were  of 
indented  bone.  The  tomahawk  is  a 
stone,  six  or  eight  inches  long,  point- 
ed at  one  end,  and  the  other  end  fixed 
into  a  handle  of  wood.  This  handle 
resembles  the  head  and  neck  of  the 
human  figure  ;  and  the  stone  is  fixed 
in  the  mouth,  so  as  to  represent  an 
enormously  large  tongue.  To  make 
the  resemblance  still  stronger,  human 
hair  is  also  fixed  to  it.  This  weapon 
they  call  "taaweesh"  or  "tsuskeeah." 
They  have  another  stone  weapon  called 
"seeaik,"  nine  inches  or  a  foot  long, 
with  a  square  point.  From  the  num- 
ber of  stone  weapons  and  others,  we 
might  almost  conclude  that  it  is  their 
custom  to  engage  in  close  fight ;  and 
we  had  too  convincing  proofs  that 
their  wars  are  both  frequent  and 
bloody,  from  the  vast  number  of 
human  skulls  which  they  brought  to 
sell. 

Their  manufactures  and  mechanic 
arts  are  far  more  extensive  and  ingeni- 
ous, whether  we  regard  the  design 
or  the  execution,  than  could  have 
been  expected  from  the  natural  dis- 
position of  the  people  and  the  little 
progress  that  civilisation  has  made 
amongst  them  in  other  respects.  The 
flaxen  and  woollen  garments  with 
which  they  cover  themselves  must 
necessarily  engage  their  first  care,  and 
are  the  most  material  of  those  that 
can  be  ranked  under  the  head  of  manu- 
factures. The  former  of  these  are  made 
of  the  bark  of  a  pine-tree,  beat  into  a 
hempen  state.  It  is  not  spun,  but 
after  being  properly  prepared  is  spread 
upon  a  stick  which  is  fastened  across 
to  two  others  that  stand  upright.  It 
is  disposed  in  such  a  manner  that  the 
manufacturer,  who  sits  on  her  hams 
at  this  simple  machine,  knots  it  across 
with  small  plaited  threads  at  the  dis- 
tance of  half-an-inch  from  each  other. 
Though  by  this  method  it  be  not  so 
close  or  firm  as  cloth  that  is  woven, 
the  bunches  between  the  knots  make 
it  sufficiently  impervious  to  the  air, 
by  filling  the  interstices  ;  and  it  has 
the  additional  advantage  of  being 
softer  and  more  pliable.  The  woollen 
garments,  though  probably  manufac- 
tured in.  the  same  manner,  have  the 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.      [VoY.m.B.IV.CH.Il!. 


strongest  resemblance  to  woven  cloth* 
But  the  various  figures  which  are  very 
artificially  inserted  in  them  destroy 
;he  supposition  of  their  being  wrought 
in  a  loom ;  it  being  extremely  unlikely 
that  these  people  should  be  so  dex- 
terous as  to  be  able  to  finish  such  a 
complex  work  unless  immediately  by 
their  hands.  They  are  of  different 
degrees  of  fineness ;  some  resembling 
our  coarsest  rugs  or  blankets,  and 
others  almost  equal  to  our  finest  sorts, 
or  even  softer,  and  certainly  warmer. 
The  wool  of  which  they  are  made  seems 
to  be  taken  from  animals,  as  the  fox 
and  brown  lynx,  the  last  of  which  is 
by  far  the  finest  sort,  and  in  its  natural 
state  differs  little  from  the  colour  of 
our  coarser  wools ;  but  the  hair  with 
which  the  animal  is  also  covered 
being  intermixed,  its  appearance  when 
wrought  is  somewhat  different.  The 
ornamental  parts  or  figures  in  thes« 
garments,  which  are  disposed  with 
great  taste,  are  commonly  of  a  differ- 
ent  colour,  being  dyed  chiefly  either  of 
a  deep  brown  or  of  a  yellow ;  the  last 
of  which,  when  it  is  new,  equals  the 
best  in  our  carpets  as  to  brightness. 

To  their  taste  or  design  in  working 
figures  upon  their  garments,  corre- 
sponds their  fondness  for  carving  in 
everything  they  make  of  wood.  No- 
thing is  without  a  kind  of  frieze- 
work  or  the  figure  of  some  animal 
upon  it ;  but  the  most  general  repre- 
sentation is  that  of  the  human  face, 
which  is  often  cut  out  upon  birds, 
and  the  other  monstrous  figures  men- 
tioned before,  and  even  upon  their 
stone  and  their  bone  weapons.  The 
general  design  of  all  these  things  is 
perfectly  sufficient  to  convey  a  know- 
ledge of  the  object  they  are  intended 
to  represent ;  but  the  carving  is  not 
executed  with  the  nicety  that  a  dex- 
terous artist  would  bestow  even  upon 
an  indifferent  design.  The  same, 
however,  cannot  be  said  of  many  of 
the  human  masks  and  heads,  where 
they  show  themselves  to  be  ingenious 
sculptors.  They  not  only  preserve 
with  exactness  the  general  character 
of  their  own  faces,  but  finish  the  more 
minute  parts  with  a  degree  of  accuracy 
in  proportion  and  neatness  in  exccu- 


APRIL  1778.]  NATIVE 

tion.  The  strong  propensity  of  this 
people  to  works  of  this  sort  is  remark- 
able, in  a  vast  variety  of  particulars. 
Small  whole  human  figures  ;  repre- 
sentations of  birds,  fish,  and  land  and 
sea  animals;  models  of  their  house- 
hold utensils,  and  of  their  canoes, 
were  found  amongst  them  in  great 
abundance. 

The  imitative  arts  being  nearly 
allied,  no  wonder  that  to  their  skill 
in  working  figures  in  their  garments 
and  carving  them  in  wood,  they 
should  add  that  of  drawing  them  in 
colours.  We  have  sometimes  seen 
the  whole  process  of  their  whale- 
fishery  painted  on  the  caps  they  wear. 
This,  though  rudely  executed,  serves 
at  least  to  show  that  though  there  be 
no  appearance  of  the  knowledge  of 
letters  amongst  them,  they  have  some 
notion  of  a  method  of  commemorating 
and  representing  actions  in  a  lasting 
way,  independently  of  what  may  be 
recorded  in  their  songs  and  traditions. 
They  have  also  other  figures  painted 
on  some  of  their  things ;  but  it  is 
doubtful  if  they  ought  to  be  considered 
as  symbols  that  have  certain  establish- 
ed significations,  or  only  the  mere 
creation  of  fancy  and  caprice. 

Their  canoes  are  of  a  simple  struc- 
ture, but,  to  appearance,  well  calculated 
for  every  useful  purpose.  Even  the 
largest,  which  carry  twenty  people  or 
more,  are  formed  of  one  tree.  Many 
of  them  are  forty  feet  long,  seven 
broad,  and  about  three  deep.  From 
the  middle  towards  each  end  they 
become  gradually  narrower,  the  after- 
part  or  stern  ending  abruptly  or  per- 
pendicularly, with  a  small  knob  on 
the  top ;  but  the  forepart  is  lengthened 
out,  stretching  forwards  and  upwards, 
ending  in  a  notched  point,  or  prow, 
considerably  higher  than  the  sides  of 
the  canoe,  which  run  nearly  in  a 
straight  line.  For  the  most  part  they 
are  without  any  ornament,  but  some 
have  a  little  carving,  and  are  decorated 
by  setting  seals'  teeth  on  the  surface, 
like  studs ;  as  is  the  practice  on  their 
masks  and  weapons.  A  few  have 
likewise  a  kind  of  additional  head  or 
prow,  like  a  large  cutwater,  which  is 
painted  with  the  figure  of  some  ani- 


CAWOES.  269 

mal.  They  have  no  seats,  nor  any  other 
supporters  on  the  inside  than  several 
round  sticks,  little  thicker  than  a  cane, 
placed  across  at  mid  depth.  They 
are  very  light,  and  their  breadth  and 
flatness  enable  them  to  swim  firmly 
without  an  outrigger,  which  none  of 
them  have  ;  a  remarkable  distinction 
between  the  navigation  of  all  the  Ame- 
rican nations,  and  that  of  the  Southern 
parts  of  the  East  Indies  and  the  islands 
in  the  Pacific  Ocean.  Their  paddles 
are  small  and  light ;  the  shape  in  some 
measure  resembling  that  of  a  large 
leaf  pointed  at  the  bottom,  broadest  in 
the  middle,  and  gradually  losing  itself 
in  the  shaft,  the  whole  being  about  five 
feet  long.  They  have  acquired  great 
dexterity  in  managing  these  paddles 
by  constant  use  ;  for  sails  are  no  part 
of  their  art  of  navigation. 

Their  implements  for  fishing  and 
hunting,  which  are  both  ingeniously 
contrived  and  well  made,  are  nets, 
hooks  and  lines,  harpoons,  gigs,  and 
an  instrument  like  an  oar.  This  last 
is  about  twenty  feet  long,  four  or  five 
inches  broad,  and  about  half-an-inch 
thick.  Each  edge,  for  about  two- 
thirds  of  its  length  (the  other  third 
being  its  handle),  is  set  with  sharp 
bone  teeth  -about  two  inches  long. 
Herrings  and  sardines,  and  such  other 
small  fish  as  come  in  shoals,  are  at- 
tacked with  this  instrument,  which  is 
struck  into  the  shoal,  and  the  fish  are 
caught  either  upon  or  between  the 
teeth.  Their  hooks  are  made  of  bone 
and  wood,  and  rather  inartificially ;  but 
the  harpoon  with  which  they  strike  the 
whales  and  lesser  sea  animals  shows  a 
great  reach  of  contrivance.  It  is  com- 
posed of  a  piece  of  bone,  cut  into  two 
barbs,  in  which  is  fixed  the  oval  blade 
of  a  large  mussel  shell,  in  which  is  the 
point  of  the  instrument.  To  this  are 
fastened  about  two  or  three  fathoms  of 
rope ;  and  to  throw  this  harpoon  they 
use  a  shaft  of  about  twelve  or  fifteen 
feet  long,  to  which  the  line  or  rope  is 
made  fast,  and  to  one  end  of  which 
the  harpoon  is  fixed,  so  as  to  separate 
from  the  shaft,  and  leave  it  floating 
upon  the  water  as  a  buoy  when  the 
animal  darts  away  with  the  harpoon. 

We  can  say  nothing  as  to  the  man- 


270 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.        [VoY.  III.  B.  IV.  CH.  III. 


ner  of  their  catching  or  killing  land 
animals,  unless  we  may  suppose  that 
they  shoot  the  smaller  sorts  with  their 
arrows,  and  engage  bears  or  wolves 
and  foxes  with  their  spears.  They 
have,  indeed,  several  nets,  which  are 
probably  applied  to  that  purpose,  as 
they  frequently  threw  them  over  their 
heads,  to  show  their  use,  when  they 
brought  them  to  us  for  sale.  They  also 
sometimes  decoy  animals  by  covering 
themselves  with  a  skin,  and  running 
about  upon  all  fours,  which  they  do 
very  nimbly,  as  appeared  from  the 
specimens  of  their  skill  which  they 
exhibited  to  us,  making  a  kind  of 
noise  or  neighing  at  the  same  time  ; 
and  on  these  occasions  the  masks,  or 
carved  heads,  as  well  as  the  real  dried 
heads,  of  the  different  animals  are  put 
on.  As  to  the  materials  of  which 
they  make  their  various  articles,  it  is 
to  be  observed  that  everything  of  the 
rope  kind  is  formed  either  from  thongs 
of  skins  and  sinews  of  animals,  or  from 
the  same  flaxen  substance  of  which 
their  mantles  are  manufactured.  The 
sinews  often  appeared  to  be  of  such  a 
length,  that  it  might  be  presumed 
they  could  be  of  no  other  animal  than 
the  whale.  And  the  same  may  be 
said  of  the  bones  of  which  they  make 
their  weapons  already  mentioned ; 
such  as  their  bark-beating  instru- 
ments, the  points  of  their  spears,  and 
the  barbs  of  their  harpoons. 

Their  great  dexterity  in  works  of 
wood  may  in  some  measure  be  ascribed 
to  the  assistance  they  receive  from  iron 
tools.  For  as  far  as  we  know  they 
use  no  other ;  at  least  we  saw  only 
one  chisel  of  bone.  And  though  ori- 
ginally their  tools  must  have  been  of 
different  materials,  it  is  not  impro- 
bable that  many  of  their  improve- 
ments have  been  made  since  they 
acquired  a  knowledge  of  that  metal, 
which  is  now  universally  used  in  their 
various  wooden  works.  The  chisel 
and  the  knife  are  the  only  forms,  as  far 
as  we  saw,  that  iron  assumes  amongst 
them.  The  chisel  is  a  long  flat  piece 
fitted  into  a  handle  of  wood.  A  stone 
serves  for  a  mallet,  and  a  piece  of  fish 
skin  for  a  polisher.  I  have  seen 
some  of  these  chisels  that  were  eight 


or  ten  inches  long,  and  three  or  four 
inches  broad ;  but  in  general  they  were 
smaller.  The  knives  are  of  various 
sizes ;  some  very  large ;  and  their 
blades  are  crooked,  somewhat  like  our 
pruning-knife,  but  the  edge  is  on  the 
back  or  convex  part.  Most  of  them 
that  we  saw  were  about  the  breadth 
and  thickness  of  an  iron  hoop  ;  and 
their  singular  form  marks  that  they 
are  not  of  European  make.  Probably 
they  are  imitations  of  their  own  ori- 
ginal instruments  used  for  the  same 
purposes.  They  sharpen  these  iron 
tools  upon  a  coarse  slate  whetstone, 
and  likewise  keep  the  whole  instru- 
ment constantly  bright. 

Iron,  which  they  call  "seekemaile" 
(which  name  they  also  give  to  tin  and 
all  white  metals),  being  familiar  to 
these  people,  it  was  very  natural  for 
us  to  speculate  about  the  mode  of  its 
being  conveyed  to  them.  Upon  our 
arrival  in  the  sound  they  immediately 
discovered  a  knowledge  of  traffic  and 
an  inclination  for  it,  and  we  were  con- 
vinced afterwards  that  they  had  not 
received  this  knowledge  from  a  cursory 
interview  with  any  strangers  ;  but, 
from  their  method,  it  seemed  to  be 
an  established  practice  of  which  they 
were  fond,  and  in  which  they  were 
also  well  skilled.  With  whom  they 
carry  on  this  traffic,  may  perhaps  ad- 
mit of  some  doubt.  For  though  we 
found  amongst  them  things  doubtless 
of  European  manufacture,  or  at  least 
derived  from  some  civilised  nation, 
such  as  iron  and  brass,  it  by  no  means 
appears  that  they  receive  them  imme- 
diately from  these  nations.  For  we 
never  observed  the  least  sign  of  their 
having  seen  ships  like  ours  before, 
nor  of  their  having  traded  with  such 
people.  Many  circumstances  serve 
to  prove  this  almost  beyond  a  doubt. 
They  were  earnest  in  their  inquiries, 
by  signs,  on  our  arrival,  if  we  meant 
to  settle  amongst  them,  and  if  we  came 
as  friends ;  signifying,  at  the  same 
time,  that  they  gave  the  wood  and 
water  freely,  from  friendship.  This 
not  only  proves  that  they  considered 
the  place  as  entirely  their  property, 
without  fearing  any  superiority ;  but  the 
inquiry  would  have  been  an  unnatural 


Amu,  1778.] 


THEIR  IRON  TOOLS. 


271 


one,  on  a  supposition  that  any  ships 
had  been  here  before,  had  trafficked 
and  supplied  themselves  with  wood  and 
water,  and  had  then  departed  ;  for  in 
that  case  they  might  reasonably  expect 
we  would  do  the  same.  They  indeed 
expressed  no  marks  of  surprise  at  see- 
ing our  ships.  But  this,  as  I  observed 
before,  maybe  imputed  to  their  natural 
indolence  of  temper  and  want  of  curi- 
osity. Nor  were  they  even  startled  at 
the  report  of  a  musket ;  till  one  day, 
upon  their  endeavouring  to  make  us 
sensible  that  their  arrows  and  spears 
could  not  penetrate  the  hide  dresses, 
one  of  our  gentlemen  shot  a  musket 
ball  through  one  of  them  folded  six 
times.  At  this  they  were  so  much 
staggered  that  they  plainly  discovered 
their  ignorance  of  the  effect  of  fire- 
arms. This  was  very  often  confirmed 
afterwards,  when  we  used  them  at 
their  village  and  other  places  to  shoot 
birds,  the  manner  of  which  plainly 
confounded  them ;  and  our  explana- 
tions of  the  use  of  shot  and  ball  were 
received  with  the  most  significant 
marks  of  their  having  no  previous 
ideas  on  this  matter. 

Some  accounts  of  a  Spanish  voyage 
to  this  coast  in  1774  or  1775  had 
reached  England  before  I  sailed,  but 
the  foregoing  circumstances  suffi- 
ciently prove  that  these  ships  had  not 
been  at  Nootka.1  Besides  this,  it 
was  evident  that  iron  was  too  common 
here,  was  in  too  many  hands,  and 
the  uses  of  it  were  too  well  known  for 
them  to  have  had  the  first  knowledge 
of  it  so  very  lately,  or  indeed  at  any 
earlier  period,  by  an  accidental  supply 
from  a  ship.  Doubtless,  from  the 


1  "We  now  know  that  Captain  Cook's 
conjecture  was  well  founded.  It  ap- 
pears from  the  Journal  of  this  Voyage, 
already  referred  to,  that  the  Spaniards 
had  intercourse  with  the  natives  of 
this  coast  only  in  three  places — in 
Latitude  41°  7',  in  Latitude  47°  21', 
and  in  Latitude  67°  18'.  So  that 
they  were  not  within  two  degrees  of 
Nootka ;  and  it  is  most  probable  that 
the  people  there  never  heard  of  these 
Spanish  ships, — Note  in  Original  Edi- 
tion. 


general  use  they  make  of  this  metal, 
it  may  be  supposed  to  come  from  some 
constant  source  by  way  of  traffic,  and 
that  not  of  a  very  late  date,  for  they 
are  as  dexterous  in  using  their  tools 
as  the  longest  practice  can  make 
them.  The  most  probable  way,  there- 
fore, by  which  we  can  suppose  that  they 
get  their  iron,  is  by  trading  for  it  with 
other  Indian  tribes,  who  either  have 
immediate  communication  with  Euro- 
pean settlements  upon  the  continent, 
or  receive  it  perhaps  through  several 
intermediate  nations.  The  same  might 
be  said  of  the  brass  and  copper  found 
amongst  them.  "Whether  these  things 
be  introduced  by  way  of  Hudson's 
Bay  and  Canada  from  the  Indians 
who  deal  with  our  traders,  and  so 
successively  across  from  one  tribe  to 
the  other,  or  whether  they  be  brought 
from  the  north-western  parts  of  Mexico 
in  the  same  manner,  perhaps  cannot 
be  easily  determined.  But  it  should 
seem  that  not  only  the  rude  materials, 
but  some  articles  in  their  manufac- 
tured state,  find  their  way  hither. 
The  brass  ornaments  for  noses,  in  par- 
ticular, are  so  neatly  made  that  I  am 
doubtful  whether  the  Indians  are 
capable  of  fabricating  them.  The 
materials  certainly  are  European,  as 
no  American  tribes  have  been  found 
who  knew  the  method  of  making 
brass ;  though  copper  has  been  com- 
monly met  with,  and  from  its  softness 
might  be  fashioned  into  any  shape, 
and  also  polished.  If  our  traders  to 
Hudson's  Bay  and  Canada  do  not  use 
such  articles  in  their  traffic  with  the 
natives,  they  must  have  been  intro- 
duced at  Nootka  from  the  quarter  of 
Mexico,  whence  no  doubt  the  two 
silver  table-spoons  met  with  here  were 
originally  derived.  It  is  most  prob- 
able, however,  that  the  Spaniards  are 
not  such  eager  traders,  nor  have  formed 
such  extensive  connections  with  the 
tribes  north  of  Mexico  as  to  supply 
them  with  quantities  of  iron,  from 
which  they  can  spare  so  much  to  the 
people  here.2 

2  Though  the  two  silver  table-spoons 
found  at  Nootka  Sound  most  probably 
came  from  the  Spaniards  in  the  south, 


272 

Of  the  political  and  religious  insti- 
tutions established  amongst  them,  it 
cannot  be  supposed  that  we  should 
learn  much.  This  we  could  observe, 
that  there  are  such  men  as  chiefs  who 
are  distinguished  by  the  name  or  title 
of  "  acweek,"  and  to  whom  the  others 
are  in  some  measure  subordinate. 
But  I  should  guess  the  authority  of 
each  of  these  great  men  extends  no 
further  than  the  family  to  which  he 
belongs,  and  who  own  him  as  their 
head.  These  "acweeks"  were  not 
always  elderly  men,  from  which  I  con- 
cluded that  this  title  came  to  them 
by  inheritance.  I  saw  nothing  that 
could  give  the  least  insight  into  their 
notions  of  religion  besides  the  figures 
before  mentioned,  called  by  them 
"klumma."  Most  probably  these 
were  idols;  but  as  they  frequently 
mentioned  the  word  "  acweek  '  when 
they  spoke  of  them,  we  may  perhaps 
be  authorised  to  suppose  that  they 
are  the  images  of  some  of  their  ances- 
tors, whom  they  venerate  as  divini- 
ties. But  all  this  is  mere  conjecture, 
for  we  saw  no  act  of  religious  homage 
paid  to  them,  nor  could  we  gain  any 
information,  as  we  had  learned  little 
more  of  the  language  than  to  ask  the 
names  of  things,  without  being  able 
to  hold  any  conversation  with  the 
natives  that  might  instruct  us  as  to 
their  institutions  and  traditions. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

HAVING  put  to  sea  on  the  evening  of 
the  26th,  as  before  related,  with  strong 
signs  of  an  approaching  storm,  these 
signs  did  not  deceive  us.  We  were 
hardly  out  of  the  sound  before  the 
wind  in  an  instant  shifted  from  NE. 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.      [Voy.  III.  B.  IV.  CH.  I V. 


there  seem  to  be  sufficient  grounds  for 
believing  that  the  regular  supply  of 
iron  comes  from  a  different  quarter. 
It  is  remarkable  that  the  Spaniards, 
in  1775,  found  at  Puerto  de  la  Trini- 
dad, in  Latitude  41°  7',  arrows  pointed 
with  copper  or  iron,  which  they  under- 
stood were  procured  from  the  north. 
— Note  in  Original  Edition, 


to  SE.  by  E.  and  increased  to  a  strong 
;ale,  with  squalls  and  rain,  and  so 
.ark  a  sky  that  we  could  not  see  the 
length  of  the  ship.  Being  apprehen- 
sive, from  the  experience  I  had  since 
our  arrival  on  this  coast,  of  the  wind 
veering  more  to  the  S.,  which  would 
put  us  in  danger  of  a  lee -shore,  we  got 
the  tacks  on  board,  and  stretched  off 
to  the  SW.  under  all  the  sail  the  ships 
could  bear.  Fortunately  the  wind 
veered  no  farther  southerly  than  SE., 
so  that  at  daylight  the  next  morning 
we  were  quite  clear  of  the  coast. 

The  Discovery  being  at  some  dis- 
tance astern,  I  brought  .to  till  she 
came  up,  and  then  bore  away,  steer- 
ing NW.,  in  which  direction  I  sup- 
posed the  coast  to  lie.  The  wind  was 
at  SE.,  blew  very  hard  and  in  squalls, 
with  thick  hazy  weather.  At  half- 
past  one  in  the  afternoon  it  blew  a 
perfect  hurricane,  so  that  I  judged  it 
highly  dangerous  to  run  any  longer 
before  it,  and  therefore  brought  the 
ships  to  with  their  heads  to  the  S. 
under  the  foresails  and  mizzen  stay- 
sails. At  this  time  the  Resolution 
sprung  a  leak,  which  at  first  alarmed 
us  not  a  little.  It  was  found  to  be 
under  the  starboard  buttock,  where 
from  the  bread-room  we  could  both 
hear  and  see  the  water  rush  in ;  and, 
as  we  then  thought,  two  feet  under 
water.  But  in  this  we  were  happily 
mistaken,  for  it  was  afterwards  found 
to  be  even  with  the  water-line,  if  not 
above  it,  when  the  ship  was  upright. 
Vk  was  no  sooner  discovered  than  the 
fish-room  was  found  to  be  full  of 
water,  and  the  casks  in  it  afloat ;  but 
this  was  in  a  great  measure  owing  to 
the  water  not  finding  its  way  to  the 
pumps  through  the  coals  that  lay  in 
the  bottom  of  the  room.  For  after 
the  water  was  baled  out,  which  em- 
ployed us  till  midnight,  and  had 
found  its  way  directly  from  the  leak  to 
the  pumps,  it  appeared  that  one  pump 
kept  it  under,  which  gave  us  no  small 
satisfaction.  In  the  evening  the  wind 
veered  to  the  S.,  and  its  fury  in  some 
degree  ceased.  On  this  we  set  the 
mainsail  and  two  topsails  close-reefed, 
and  stretched  to  the  westward.  But 
at  11  o'clock  the  gale  again  increased, 


MAT  1778.]      PROGKESS  ALOSTO  COAST  OF  AMERICA. 


and  obliged  us  to  take  in  the  topsails, 
till  5  o'clock  the  next  morning,  when 
the  storm  began  to  abate,  so  that  we 
could  bear  to  set  them  again. 

The  weather  now  began  to  clear  up, 
and  being  able  to  see  several  leagues 
round  us,  I  steered  more  to  the  north- 
ward. At  noon  the  Latitude,  by  ob- 
servation, was  50°  1',  Longitude  229° 
26'. 1  I  now  steered  NW.  by  N.  with 
a  fresh  gale  at  SSE.  and  fair  weather. 
But  at  nine  in  the  evening  it  began 
again  to  blow  hard,  and  in  squalls, 
with  rain.  "With  such  weather,  and 
the  wind  between  SSE.  and  SW.,  I 
continued  the  same  course  till  the 
30th  at  four  in  the  morning,  when  I 
steered  N.  by  W.  in  order  to  make 
the  land.  I  regretted  very  much  in- 
deed that  I  could  not  do  it  sooner,  for 
this  obvious  reason,  that  we  were  now 
passing  the  place  where  geographers 
have  placed  the  pretended  strait  of 
Admiral  de  Fonte.^  For  my  own  part 
I  give  no  credit  to  such  vague  and 
improbable  stories  that  carry  their 
own  confutation  along  with  them. 
Nevertheless  I  was  very  desirous  of 
keeping  the  American  coast  aboard  in 
order  to  clear  up  this  point  beyond 
dispute.  But  it  would  have  been 
highly  imprudent  in  me  to  have  en- 
gaged with  the  land  in  weather  so 
exceedingly  tempestuous,  or  to  have 
lost  the  advantage  of  a  fair  wind  by 
waiting  for  better  weather.  This 
same  day  at  noon  we  were  in  the 


1  As  in  the  remaining  part  of  this 
Book,  the  latitude  and  longitude  are 
very  frequently  set  down,   the  for- 
mer being  invariably  north  and  the 
latter  east,  the  constant  repetition  of 
the  two  words  north  and  east  has 
been  omitted. 

2  Cook  was  in  fact  at  this  time 
passing  the  mouth  of  Dixon's  Chan- 
nel, between  Queen  Charlotte's  Island 
and  the  Prince  of  Wales's  Archipelago, 
a  genuine  examination  of  which,  and 
of  the  numerous  channels  near,  may 
have  given  the  foundation  for  the 
ridiculous  fables  told  in  his  name  in 
3708,  nearly  seventy  years  after  the 
alleged  date  of  his  voyage,  by  a  "sen- 
•atioual  "  literary  hack  in  London. 


273 

Latitude  of  53°  22',  and  in  the  Longi- 
tude of  225°  14'. 

The  next  morning,  being  the  1st  of 
May,  seeing  nothing  of  the  land,  I 
steered  north-easterly,  with  a  fresh 
breeze  at  SSE.  and  S.,  with  squalls 
and  showers  of  rain  and  hail.  Our 
Latitude  at  noon  was  54°  43',  and  our 
Longitude  224°  44'.  At  seven  in  the 
evening,  being  in  the  Latitude  of  55° 
20',  we  got  sight  of  the  land,  extend- 
ing from  NNE.  to  E.  or  E.  by  S,  about 
twelve  or  fourteen  leagues  distant. 
An  hour  after,  I  steered  N.  by  W. ; 
and  at  four  the  next  morning  the 
coast  was  seen  from  N.  by  W.  to  SE., 
the  nearest  part  about  six  leagues 
distant.  At  this  time  the  northern 
point  of  an  inlet,  or  what  appeared  to 
be  one,  bore  E.  by  S.  It  lies  in  the 
Latitude  of  56°;  and  from  it  to  the 
northward  the  coast  seemed  to  be 
much  broken,  forming  bays  and  har- 
bours every  two  or  three  leagues,  or 
else  appearances  much  deceived  us. 
At  6  o'clock,  drawing  nearer  the  land, 
I  steered  NW.  by  K,  this  being  the 
direction  of  the  coast,  having  a  fresh 
gale  at  SE.,  with  some  showers  of 
hail,  snow,  and  sleet.  Between  11  and 
12  o'clock  we  passed  a  group  of  small 
islands  lying  under  the  mainland,  in 
the  Latitude  of  56°  48',  and  off,  or 
rather  to  the  northward  of,  the  south 
point  of  a  large  bay.  An  arm  of  this 
bay,  in  the  northern  part  of  it,  seemed 
to  extend  in  towards  the  north,  be- 
hind a  round  elevated  mountain  that 
lies  between  it  and  the  sea.  This 
mountain  I  called  Mount  Edgcumbe ; 
and  the  point  of  land  that  shoots  out 
from  it  Cape  Edgcumbe.  The  latter 
lies  in  the  Latitude  of  57°  3',  and  in 
the  Longitude  of  224°  7';  and  at  noon 
it  bore  N.  20°,  W.  six  leagues  dis- 
tant. The  land,  except  in  some 
places  close  to  the  sea,  is  all  of  a  con- 
siderable height,  and  hilly;  but 
Mount  Edgcumbe  far  out-tops  all  the 
other  hills.  It  was  wholly  covered 
with  snow,  as  were  also  all  the  other 
elevated  hills ;  but  the  lower  ones, 
and  the  flatter  spots  bordering  upon 
the  sea  were  free  from  it,  and  covered 
with  wood. 

As  we  advanced  to  the  north,  we 


274 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.      [VoY.  III.  B.  IV.  CH.  IV. 


found  the  coast  from  Cape  Edgcumbe 
to  trend  to  north  and  north-easterly 
for  six  or  seven  leagues,  and  there 
form  a  large  bay.  In  the  entrance 
of  that  bay  are  some  islands,  for  which 
reason  I  named  it  the  Bay  of  Islands. 
It  lies  in  the  Latitude  of  57°  20', l  and 
seemed  to  branch  into  several  arms, 
one  of  which  turned  to  the  south,  and 
may  probably  communicate  with  the 
bay  on  the  east  side  of  Cape  Edg- 
cumbe,  and  make  the  land  of  that 
cape  an  island. 

At  half-an-hour  past  four  in  the 
morning  on  the  3d,  Mount  Edgcumbe 
bore  S.  54°  E. ;  a  large  inlet  N.  50° 
E. ,  distant  six  leagues  ;  and  the  most 
advanced  point  of  the  land  to  the 
NW. ,  lying  under  a  very  high  peaked 
mountain,  which  obtained  the  name 
of  Mount  Fairweather,  bora  N.  32° 
"W.  The  inlet  was  named  Cross 
Sound,  as  being  first  seen  on  that  day 
so  marked  in  our  Calendar.  It  ap- 
peared to  branch  in  several  arms,  the 
largest  of  which  turned  to  the  north- 
ward. The  south-east  point  of  this 
sound  is  a  high  promontory,  which 
obtained  the  name  of  Cross  Cape.  It 
lies  in  the  Latitude  of  57°  57',  and  its 
Longitude  is  223°  21'.  At  noon  it 
bore  SE. ;  and  the  point  under  the 
peaked  mountain,  which  was  called 
Cape  Fairweather,  N.  by  "W.  quarter 
W.,  distant  thirteen  leagues. 

Here  the  NE.  wind  left  us,  and 
was  succeeded  by  light  breezes  from 
the  NW.,  which  lasted  for  several 
days.  I  stood  to  the  SW.  and  WSW. 
till  8  o'clock  the  next  morning,  when 
we  tacked  and  stood  towards  the 
shore.  At  noon  the  Latitude  was 
58°  22',  and  the  Longitude  220°  45'. 
Mount  Fairweather,  the  peaked  moun- 
tain over  the  cape  of  the  same  name, 
bore  N.  63°  E. ;  the  shore  under  it 
twelve  leagues  distant.  This  moun- 
tain, which  lies  in  the  Latitude  of 


1  It  should  seem  that  in  this  very 
bay  the  Spaniards  in  1775  found  their 
port  which,  they  call  De  los  Remedies. 
The  Latitude  is  exactly  the  same ; 
and  their  Journal  mentions  its  being 
protected  by  a  long  ridge  of  high 
islands. — Note  in  Original  Edition. 


58°  52',  and  in  the  Longitude  of  222°, 
and  five  leagues  inland,  is  the  highest 
of  a  chain,  or  rather  a  ridge,  of  moun- 
tains that  rise  at  the  NW.  entrance 
of  Cross  Sound,  and  extend  to  the 
NW.  in  a  parallel  direction  with  the 
coast.  These  mountains  were  wholly 
covered  with  snow,  from  the  highest 
summit  down  to  the  sea-coast,  some 
few  places  excepted,  where  we  could 
perceive  trees  rising,  as  it  were,  out 
of  the  sea  ;  and  which,  therefore,  we 
supposed  grew  on  low  land,  or  on 
islands  bordering  upon  the  shore  of 
the  continent.  At  five  in  the  after- 
noon our  Latitude  being  then  58°  53', 
and  our  Longitude  220  52',  the  sum- 
mit of  an  elevated  mountain  appeared 
above  the  horizon,  bearing  N.  26°  W., 
and,  as  was  afterward  found,  forty 
leagues  distant.  We  supposed  it  to 
be  Behring's  Mount  St  Elias  ;  and  it 
stands  by  that  name  in  our  chart. 
This  day  we  saw  several  whales,  seals, 
and  porpoises ;  many  gulls,  and  several 
flocks  of  birds,  which  had  a  black 
ring  about  the  head,  the  tip  of  the 
tail,  and  upper  part  of  the  wings, 
with  a  black  band,  and  the  rest 
bluish  above  and  white  below.  "We 
also  saw  a  brownish  duck,  with  a 
black  or  deep  blue  head  and  neck, 
sitting  upon  the  water. 

Having  but  light  winds,  with  some 
calms,  we  advanced  slowly ;  so  that, 
on  the  6th,  at  noon,  we  were  only  in 
the  Latitude  of  59°  8',  and  in  the 
Longitude  of  220°  19'.  Mount  Fair- 
weather  bore  S.  63°  E.,  and  Mount  St 
EliasN.30°W.  ;  the  nearest  land  about 
eight  leagues  distant.  In  the  direction 
of  N.  47°  E.  from  this  station,  there 
was  the  appearance  of  a  bay,  and 
an  island  off  the  south  point  of  it, 
that  was  covered  with  wood.  It  is 
here  where  I  suppose  Commodore 
Behring  to  have  anchored.  Behind 
the  bay  (which  I  shall  distinguish  by 
the  name  of  Behring's  Bay,  in  honour 
of  its  discoverer),  or  rather  to  the 
south  of  it,  the  chain  of  mountains 
before  mentioned  is  interrupted  by  a 
plain  of  a  few  leagues'  extent,  beyond 
which  the  sight  was  unlimited ;  so 
that  there  is  either  a  level  country  or 
water  behind  it.  In  the  afternoon, 


MAT  1778.]  KAYE'S 

having  a  few  hours'  calm,  I  took  this 
opportunity  to  sound,  and  found 
twenty  fathoms  water  over  a  muddy 
bottom.  The  calm  was  succeeded  by 
a  light  breeze  from  the  north,  with 
which  we  stood  to  the  westward  ;  and 
at  noon  the  next  day  we  were  in  the 
Latitude  of  59°  27',  and  the  Longi- 
tude of  219°  7'. 

We  now  found  the  coast  to  trend 
very  much  to  the  west,  inclining 
hardly  anything  to  the  north  ;  and 
as  we  had  the  wind  mostly  from  the 
westward,  and  but  little  of  it,  our 
progress  was  slow.  On  the  9th,  at 
noon,  the  Latitude  was  59°  30',  and 
the  Longitude  217°.  In  this  situa- 
tion the  nearest  land  was  nine  leagues 
distant,  and  Mount  St  Elias  bore 
N.  30°  E.,  nineteen  leagues  distant. 
This  mountain  lies  twelve  leagues 
inland,  in  the  Latitude  of  60°  27',  and 
in  the  Longitude  of  219°.  It  belongs 
to  a  ridge  of  exceedingly  high  moun- 
tains, that  may  be  reckoned  a  con- 
tinuation of  the  former,  as  they  are 
only  divided  from  them  by  the  plain 
above  mentioned.  They  extend  as 
far  to  the  west  as  the  Longitude  of 
217°,  where,  although  they  do  not 
end,  they  lose  much  of  their  height, 
and  become  more  broken  and  divided. 

At  noon  on  the  10th  our  Latitude 
was  59°  51',  and  our  Longitude  215° 
56',  being  no  more  than  three  leagues 
from  the  coast  of  the  continent,  which 
extended  from  E.  half  N.  to  NW. 
half  "W.,  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach. 
To  the  westward  of  this  last  direction 
was  an  island  that  extended  from  N.  52° 
W.  to  S.  85°  W.,  distant  six  leagues. 
A  point  shoots  out  from  the  main 
toward  the  NE.  end  of  the  island, 
bearing  at  this  time  N.  30°  W.,  five 
or  six  leagues  distant.  This  point  I 
named  Cape  Suckling.  The  point  of 
the  cape  is  low ;  but  within  it  is  a 
tolerably  high  hill,  which  is  disjoined 
from  the  mountains  by  low  land,  so 
that  at  a  distance  the  cape  looks  like 
an  island.  On  the  north  side  of  Cape 
Suckling  is  a  bay  that  appeared  to  be 
of  some  extent,  and  to  be  covered 
from  most  winds.  To  this  bay  I  had 
some  thoughts  of  going  to  stop^our 
leak,  as  all  our  endeavours  to  do  it  at 


ISLAND. 


27S 


sea  had  proved  ineffectual.  With  this 
view  I  steered  for  the  Cape  :  but  as 
we  had  only  variable  light  breezes  we 
approached  it  slowly.  However,  be- 
fore night  we  were  near  enough  to 
see  some  low  land  spitting  out  from 
the  cape  to  the  NW.,  so  as  to  cover 
the  east  part  of  the  bay  from  the 
south  wind.  We  also  saw  some  small 
islands  in  the  bay,  and  elevated  rocks 
between  the  cape  and  the  north-east 
end  of  the  island.  But  still  there 
appeared  to  be  a  passage  on  both  sides 
of  these  rocks  ;  and  I  continued  steer- 
ing for  them  all  night,  having  from 
forty-three  to  twenty-seven  fathoms 
water,  over  a  muddy  bottom. 

At  4  o'clock  next  morning,  the 
wind,  which  had  been  mostly  at  NE., 
shifted  to  N".  This  being  against  us, 
I  gave  up  the  design  of  going  within 
the  island  or  into  the  bay,  as  neither 
could  be  done  without  loss  of  time. 
I  therefore  bore  up  for  the  west  end 
of  the  island.  The  wind  blew  faint, 
and  at  1 0  o'clock  it  fell  calm.  Being 
not  far  from  the  island,  I  went  in  a 
boat,  and  landed  upon  it  with  a  view 
of  seeing  what  lay  on  the  other  side ; 
but  finding  it  farther  to  the  hills  than 
I  expected,  and  the  way  being  steep 
and  woody,  I  was  obliged  to  drop  the 
design.  At  the  foot  of  a  tree,  on  a 
little  eminence  not  far  from  the  shore, 
I  left  a  bottle  with  a  paper  in  it  on 
which  were  inscribed  the  names  of 
the  ships  and  the  date  of  our  dis- 
covery ;  and  along  with  it  I  enclosed 
two  silver  twopenny  pieces  of  his 
Majesty's  coin,  of  the  date  1772. 
These,  with  many  others,  were  fur- 
nished me  by  the  Rev.  Dr  Kaye;1 
and  as  a  mark  of  my  esteem  and  re- 
gard for  that  gentleman  I  named  the 
island,  after  him,  Kaye's  Island.  It 
is  eleven  or  twelve  leagues  in  length 
in  the  direction  of  NE.  and  SW.,  but 
its  breadth  is  not  above  a  league  or  a 
league  and  a  half  in  any  part  of  it. 
The  SW.  point,  which  lies  in  the 
Latitude  of  59°  49'  and  the  Longitude 
of  216°  58',  is  very  remarkable,  being 

1  Then  Sub-almoner  and  Chaplain 
to  his  Majesty,  afterwards  Dean  of 
Lincoln. 


276 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.        [VoY.  III.  B.  IV.  CH.  IV. 


a  naked  rock  elevated  considerably 
above  the  land  within  it.  There  is 
also  an  elevated  rock  lying  off  it, 
which  from  some  points  of  view  ap- 
pears like  a  ruined  castle.  Towards 
the  sea  the  island  terminates  in  a  kind 
of  bare  sloping  cliffs,  with  a  beach, 
only  a  few  paces  across  to  their  foot, 
of  large  pebble  stones,  intermixed  in 
some  places  with  a  brownish  clayey 
sand  which  the  sea  seems  to  deposit 
after  rolling  in,  having  been  washed 
down  from  the  higher  parts  by  the 
rivulets  or  torrents.  The  cliffs  are 
composed  of  a  bluish  stone  or  rock, 
in  a  soft  or  mouldering  state,  except 
in  a  few  places.  There  are  parts  of 
the  shore  interrupted  by  small  valleys 
and  gullies.  In  each  of  these  a  rivu- 
let or  torrent  rushes  down  with  con- 
siderable impetuosity,  though  it  may 
be  supposed  that  they  are  only  fur- 
nished from  the  snow,  and  last  no 
longer  than  till  it  is  all  melted. 
These  valleys  are  filled  with  pine- 
trees,  which  grow  down  close  to  the 
entrance,  but  only  to  about  half-way 
up  the  higher  or  middle  part  of  the 
island.  The  woody  part  also  begins 
everywhere  immediately  above  the 
cliffs,  and  is  continued  to  the  same 
height  with  the  former,  so  that  the 
island  is  covered  as  it  were  with  a 
broad  girdle  of  wood  spread  upon  its 
side,  included  between  the  top  of  the 
cliffy  shore  and  the  higher  parts  in 
the  centre.  The  trees,  however,  are 
far  from  being  of  an  uncommon 
growth,  few  appearing  to  be  larger 
than  one  might  grasp  round  with  his 
arms,  and  about  forty  or  fifty  feet 
high ;  so  that  the  only  purpose  they 
could  answer  for  shipping  would  be 
to  make  top-gallant-masts  and  other 
small  things.  How  far  we  may  judge 
of  the  size  of  the  trees  which  grow  on 
the  neighbouring  continent  it  may  be 
difficult  to  determine.  But  it  was 
observed  that  none  larger  than  those 
we  saw  growing  lay  upon  the  beach 
amongst  the  drift-wood.  The  pine- 
trees  seemed  all  of  one  sort,  and  there 
was  neither  the  Canadian  pine  nor 
cypress  to  be  seen.  But  there  were  a 
few  which  appeared  to  be  the  alder, 
that  were  but  small,  and  had  not  yet 


shot  forth  their  leaves.  Upon  the 
edges  of  the  cliffs,  and  on  some  slop- 
ing ground,  the  surface  was  covered 
with  a  kind  of  turf  about  half-a-foot 
thick,  which  seemed  composed  of  the 
common  moss,  and  the  top  or  upper 
part  of  the  island  had  almost  the  same 
appearance  as  to  colour,  but  whatever 
covered  it  seemed  to  be  thicker.  I 
found  amongst  the  trees  some  currant 
and  hawberry  bushes,  a  small  yellow- 
flowered  violet,  and  the  leaves  of  some 
other  plants  not  yet  in  flower,  parti- 
cularly one  which  Mr  Anderson  sup- 
posed to  be  the  Heracleum  of  Lin- 
naeus, the  sweet  herb  which  Steller, 
who  attended  Behring,  imagined  the 
Americans  here  dress  for  food  in  the 
same  manner  as  the  natives  of  Kanits- 
chatka. 

"We  saw  flying  about  the  wood  a 
crow,  two  or  three  of  the  white-headed 
eagles  mentioned  at  Nootka,  and 
another  sort  full  as  large,  which  ap- 
peared also  of  the  same  colour,  or 
blacker,  and  had  only  a  white  breast. 
In  the  passage  from  the  ship  to  the 
shore  we  saw  a  great  many  fowls  sit- 
ting upon  the  water,  or  flying  about 
in  flocks  or  pairs ;  the  chief  of  which 
were  a  few  "  quebrantahuesos, "  divers, 
ducks  or  large  petrels,  gulls,  shags, 
and  burres.  The  divers  were  of  two 
sorts :  one  very  large,  of  a  black  col- 
our, with  a  white  breast  and  belly ; 
the  other  smaller,  and  with  a  longer 
and  more  pointed  bill,  which  seemed 
to  be  the  common  guillemot.  The 
ducks  were  also  of  two  sorts,  one 
brownish,  with  a  black  or  deep  blue 
head  and  neck,  and  perhaps  the  stone 
duck  described  by  Steller.  The  others 
fly  in  larger  flocks,  but  are  smaller 
than  these,  and  are  of  a  dirty  black 
colour.  The  gulls  were  of  the  common 
sort,  and  those  which  fly  in  flocks. 
The  shags  were  large  and  black  with 
a  white  spot  behind  the  wings  as  they 
flew,  but  probably  only  the  larger 
water  cormorant.  There  was  also  a 
single  bird  seen  flying  about,  to  ap- 
pearance of  the  gull  kind,  of  a  snowy 
white  colour  with  black  along  part  of 
the  upper  side  of  its  wings.  I  owe  all 
these  remarks  to  Mr  Anderson.  At 
the  place  where  we  landed,  a  fox  came 


MAY  1778.] 


VISITED  BY  THE  NATIVES. 


277 


from  the  verge  of  the  wood,  and  eyed 
us  with  very  little  emotion,  walking 
leisurely  without  any  signs  of  fear. 
Ho  was  of  a  reddish-yellow  colour, 
like  some  of  the  skins  we  bought  at 
Nootka,  but  not  of  a  large  size.  "We 
also  saw  two  or  three  little  seals  off 
shore,  but  no  other  animals  or  birds, 
nor  the  least  signs  of  inhabitants  hav- 
ing ever  been  upon  the  island.  I  re- 
turned on  board  at  half-past  two  in 
the  afternoon,  and,  with  a  light 
breeze  easterly,  steered  for  the  SW. 
of  the  island,  which  we  got  round  by 
8  o'clock,  and  then  stood  for  the 
westernmost  land  now  in  sight,  which 
at  this  time  bore  NW.  half  N.  On 
the  NW.  side  of  the  NE.  end  of 
Kaye's  Island  lies  another  island, 
stretching  SE.  and  NW.  about  three 
leagues,  to  within  the  same  distance  of 
the  NW.  boundary  of  the  bay  above 
mentioned,  which  is  distinguished  by 
the  name  of  Comptroller's  Bay. 

Next  morning  at  4  o'clock  Kaye's 
Island  was  still  in  sight,  bearing  E. 
quarter  S.  At  this  time  we  were 
about  four  or  five  leagues  from  the 
main  ;  and  the  most  western  part  in 
sight  bore  NW.  half  N.  We  had 
now  a  fresh  gale  at  ESE ;  and  as  we 
advanced  to  the  NW.,  we  raised  land 
more  and  more  westerly,  and  at  last 
to  the  southward  of  west ;  so  that  at 
noon,  when  the  Latitude  was  61°  11' 
and  the  Longitude  213°  28',  the  most 
advanced  land  bore  from  us  SW.  by 
W.  half  W.  At  the  same  time,  the 
E.  point  of  a  large  inlet  bore  WNW., 
three  leagues  distant.  From  Comp- 
troller's Bay  to  this  point,  which  I 
name  Cape  Hinchingbroke,  the  direc- 
tion of  the  coast  is  nearly  E.  and  W. 
Beyond  this  it  seemed  to  incline  to 
the  southward;  a  direction  so  con- 
trary to  the  modern  charts  founded 
upon  the  late  Russian  discoveries, 
that  we  had  reason  to  expect  that  by 
the  inlet  before  us  we  should  find  a 
passage  to  the  N.,  and  that  the  land 
to  the  W.  and  SW.  was  nothing  but 
a  group  of  islands.  Add  to  this,  that 
the  wind  was  now  at  SE.,  and  we  were 
threatened  with  a  fog  and  a  storm ; 
a^id  I  wanted  to  get  into  some  place 
to  stop  the  leak  before  we  encountered 


another  gale.  These  reasons  induced 
me  to  steer  for  the  inlet,  which  we 
had  no  sooner  reached  than  the 
weather  became  so  foggy  that  we 
could  not  see  a  mile  before  us,  and 
it  became  necessary  to  secure  the 
ships  in  some  place  to  wait  for  a 
clearer  sky.  With  this  view  I  hauled 
close  under  Cape  Hinchingbroke,  and 
anchored  before  a  small  cove  a  little 
within  the  cape,  in  eight  fathoms 
water,  a  clayey  bottom,  and  about 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  shore. 

The  boats  were  then  hoisted  out, 
some  to  sound  and  others  to  fish.  The 
seine  was  drawn  in  the  cove,  but  with- 
out success,  for  it  was  torn.  At  some 
short  intervals  the  fog  cleared  away 
and  gave  us  a  sight  of  the  lands  around 
us.  The  cape  bore  S.  by  W.  half  W . , 
one  league  distant ;  the  W.  point  ot 
the  inlet  SW.  by  W.,  distant  five 
leagues ;  and  the  land  on  that  side  ex- 
tended as  far  as  W.  by  N.  Between 
this  point  and  NW.  by  W.  we  could 
see  no  land ;  and  what  was  in  the  last 
direction  seemed  to  be  at  a  great  dis- 
tance. The  westernmost  point  we 
had  in  sight  on  the  north  shore  bore 
NNW.  half  W.,  two  leagues  distant. 
Between  this  point  and  the  shore 
under  which  we  were  at  anchor,  is  a 
bay  about  three  leagues  deep ;  on  the 
south-east  side  of  which  there  are  two 
or  three  coves  such  as  that  before 
which  we  had  anchored,  and  in  the 
middle  some  rocky  islands.  To  these 
islands  Mr  Gore  was  sent  in  a  boat, 
in  hopes  of  shooting  some  eatable 
birds.  But  he  had  hardly  got  to 
them  before  about  twenty  natives 
made  their  appearance  in  two  large 
canoes ;  on  which  he  thought  proper 
to  return  to  the  ships,  and  they  fol- 
lowed him.  They  would  not  venture 
alongside,  but  kept  at  some  distance, 
hallooing  aloud,  and  alternately  clasp- 
ing and  extending  their  arms ;  and  in 
a  short  time  began  a  kind  of  song, 
exactly  after  the  manner  of  those  at 
Nootka.  Their  heads  were  also  pow- 
dered with  feathers.  One  man  held 
out  a  white  garment,  which  we  inter- 
preted as  a  sign  of  friendship;  and 
another  stood  up  in  the  canoe,  quite 
naked,  for  almost  a  quarter  of  an  hour, 


278 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.       [VoY.III.B.IY.CH.IV. 


with  his  arms  stretched  out  like  a 
cross  and  motionless.  The  canoes 
were  not  constructed  of  wood  as  at 
King  George's  or  Nootka  Sound.  The 
frame  only,  being  slender  laths,  was 
of  that  substance ;  the  outside  con- 
sisting of  the  skins  of  seals  or  of  such 
like  animals.1  Though  we  returned 
all  their  signs  of  friendship,  and  by 
every  expressive  gesture  tried  to  en- 
courage them  to  come  alongside,  we 
could  not  prevail.  Some  of  our  peo- 
ple repeated  several  of  the  common 
words  of  the  Nootka  language,  such 
as  "seekemaile"  and  "mahook;"2 
but  they  did  not  seem  to  understand 
them.  After  receiving  some  presents 
which  were  thrown  to  them,  they 
retired  toward  that  part  of  the  shore 
whence  they  came ;  giving  us  to 
understand  by  signs  that  they  would 
visit  us  again  the  next  morning.  Two 
of  them,  however,  each  in  a  small 
canoe,  waited  upon  us  in  the  night ; 
probably  with  a  design  to  pilfer  some- 
thing, thinking  we  should  be  all 
asleep,  for  they  retired  as  soon  as 
they  found  themselves  discovered. 

During  the  night  the  wind  was  at 
SSE.,  blowing  hard  and  in  squalls, 
with  rain  and  very  thick  weather. 
At  10  o'clock  next  morning  the  wind 
became  more  moderate,  and  the 
weather  being  somewhat  clearer  we 
got  under  sail,  in  order  to  look  out 
for  some  snug  place  where  we  might 
search  for  and  stop  the  leak ;  our 
present  station  being  too  much  ex- 
posed for  this  purpose.  At  first  I 
proposed  to  have  gone  up  the  bay 
before  which  we  had  anchored ;  but 
the  clearness  of  the  weather  tempted 
me  to  steer  to  the  northward,  farther 
up  the  great  inlet,  as  being  all  in  our 
way.  As  soon  as  we  had  passed  the 
north-west  point  of  the  bay  above 
mentioned,  we  found  the  coast  on 
that  side  to  turn  short  to  the  east- 


1  Like  the  "oomyaks,"or  women's 
canoes,  of  the  Greenlanders  ;  as  to 
which  Dr  Rae,  of  Arctic  renown,  has 
given  such  a  pleasant  description  of 
his  experiences,  in  "The  Land  of 
Desolation." 

8  "  Iron  "  or  metal ;  and  "barter." 


ward.  I  did  not  follow  it,  but  con- 
tinued  our  course  to  the  north,  for  a 
point  of  land  which  we  saw  in  that 
direction.  The  natives  who  visited 
us  the  preceding  evening  came  off 
again  in  the  morning,  in  five  or  six 
canoes,  but  not  till  we  were  under 
sail ;  and  although  they  followed  us 
for  some  time  they  could  not  get  up 
with  us.  Before  two  in  the  afternoon 
the  bad  weather  returned  again,  with 
so  thick  a  haze  that  we  could  see  no 
other  land  besides  the  point  just  men- 
tioned, which  we  reached  at  half-past 
four,  and  found  it  to  be  a  small  island, 
lying  about  two  miles  from  the  ad- 
jacent coast,  being  a  point  of  land  on 
the  east  side  of  which  we  discovered 
a  fine  bay  or  rather  harbour.  To  this 
we  plied  up  under  reefed  topsails  and 
courses.  The  wind  blew  strong  at  SE. , 
and  in  excessively  hard  squalls,  with 
rain.  At  intervals  we  could  see  land 
in  every  direction ;  but  in  general  the 
weather  was  so  foggy  that  we  could 
see  none  but  the  shores  of  the  bay 
into  wliich  we  were  plying.  In  pass- 
ing the  island  the  depth  of  water  was 
twenty-six  fathoms,  with  a  muddy 
bottom.  Soon  after"  the  depth  in- 
creased to  sixty  and  seventy  fathoms, 
a  rocky  bottom  ;  but  in  the  entrance 
of  the  bay  the  depth  was  from  thirty 
to  six  fathoms,  the  last  very  near  the 
shore.  At  length,  at  8  o'clock,  the 
violence  of  the  squalls  obliged  us  to 
anchor  in  thirteen  fathoms,  before  we 
had  got  so  far  into  the  bay  as  I  intend- 
ed ;  but  we  thought  ourselves  fortunate 
that  we  had  already  sufficiently  secured 
ourselves  at  this  hour,  for  the  night 
was  exceedingly  stormy. 

The  weather,  bad  as  it  was,  did  not 
hinder  three  of  the  natives  from  pay- 
ing us  a  visit.  They  came  ofi'  in  two 
canoes  ;  two  men  in  one,  and  one  in 
the  other,  being  the  number  each 
could  carry.  For  they  were  -built  and 
sonstructed  in  the  same  manner  with 
thgse  of  the  Esquimaux  ;  only  in  the 
one  were  two  holes  for  two  men  to  sit 
in,  and  in  the  other  but  one.  Each 
of  these  men  had  a  stick  about  three 
feet  long,  with  the  large  feathers  or 
wing  of  birds  tied  to  it.  These  they 
frequently  held  up  to  us,  with  a  view, 


MAY  1778.]    ATTEMPT  TO  PLUNDER  THE  DISCOVERY. 


279 


as  we  guessed,  to  express  their  pacific 
disposition.  The  treatment  these  men 
met  with  induced  many  more  to  visit 
us,  between  one  and  two  the  next 
morning,  in  both  great  and  small 
canoes.  Some  ventured  on  board  the 
ship,  but  not  till  some  of  our  people 
had  stepped  into  their  boats.  Amongst 
those  who  came  on  board  was  a  good- 
looking  middle-aged  man,  whom  we 
afterward  found  to  be  the  chief.  He 
was  clothed  in  a  dress  made  of  the 
sea-otter's  skin,  and  had  on  his  head 
such  a  cap  as  is  worn  by  the  people  of 
King  George's  Sound,  ornamented  with 
sky-blue  glass  beads  about  the  size  of 
a  large  pea.  He  seemed  to  set  a  much 
higher  value  upon  these  than  upon 
our  white  glass  beads.  Any  sort  of 
beads,  however,  appeared  to  be  in  high 
estimation  with  these  people ;  and 
they  readily  gave  whatever  they  had 
in  exchange  for  them,  even  their  fine 
sea-otter  skins.  But  here  I  must  ob- 
serve that  they  set  no  more  value  upon 
these  than  upon  other  skins,  which 
was  also  the  case  at  King  George's 
Sound  till  our  people  set  a  higher 
price  upon  them ;  and  even  after  that 
the  natives  of  both  places  would  sooner 
part  with  a  dress  made  of  these  than 
with  one  made  of  the  skins  of  wild- 
cats or  of  martins. 

These  people  were  also  desirous  of 
iron ;  but  they  wanted  pieces  eight  or 
ten  inches  long  at  least,  and  of  the 
breadth  of  three  or  four  fingers ;  for 
they  absolutely  rejected  small  pieces. 
Consequently  they  got  but  little  from 
us,  iron  having  by  this  time  become 
rather  a  scarce  article.  The  points  of 
some  of  their  spears  or  lances  were  of 
that  metal,  others  were  of  copper,  and 
a  few  of  bone,  of  which  the  points  of 
their  darts,  arrows,  &c.,  were  com- 
posed. I  could  not  prevail  upon  the 
chief  to  trust  himself  below  the  upper 
deck;  nor  did  he  and  his  companions 
remain  long  on  board.  But  while  we 
had  their  company  it  was  necessary 
to  watch  them  narrowly,  as  they  soon 
betrayed  a  thievish  disposition.  At 
length,  after  being  about  three  or  four 
hours  alongside  the  Resolution,  they 
all  left  her  and  went  to  the  Discovery ; 
none  having  been  there  before  except 


one  man,  who,  at  this  time  came  from 
her,  and  immediately  returned  thither 
in  company  with  the  rest.  "When  I 
observed  this,  I  thought  this  man  had 
met  with  something  there  which  he 
knew  would  please  his  countrymen 
better  than  what  they  met  with  at 
our  ship.  But  in  this  I  was  mis- 
taken, as  will  soon  appear. 

As  soon  as  they  were  gone  I  sent  a 
boat  to  sound  the  head  of  the  bay. 
For  as  the  wind  was  moderate  I  had 
thoughts  of  laying  the  ship  ashore, 
if  a  convenient  place  could  be  found 
where  I  might  begin  our  operations 
to  stop  the  leak.  It  was  not  long 
before  all  the  Americans  left  the  Dis- 
covery, and,  instead  of  returning  to 
us,  made  their  way  toward  our  boat 
employed  as  abore.  The  officer  in 
her,  seeing  this,  returned  to  the  ship, 
and  was  followed  by  all  the  canoes. 
The  boat's  crew  had  no  sooner  come 
on  board,  leaving  in  her  two  of  their 
number  by  way  of  a  guard,  than  some 
of  the  Americans  stepped  into  her. 
Some  presented  their  spears  before 
the  two  men ;  others  cast  loose  the 
rope  which  fastened  her  to  the  ship  ; 
and  the  rest  attempted  to  tow  her 
away.  But  the  instant  they  saw  us 
preparing  to  oppose  them  they  let  her 
go,  stepped  out  of  her  into  canoes, 
and  made  signs  to  us  to  lay  down  our 
arms,  having  the  appearance  of  being 
as  perfectly  unconcerned  as  if  they  had 
done  nothing  amiss.  This,  though 
rather  a  more  daring  attempt,  was 
hardly  equal  to  what  they  had  medi- 
tated on  board  the  Discovery.  The 
man  who  came  and  carried  all  his 
countrymen  from  the  Resolution  to 
the  other  ship  had  first  been  on  board 
of  her  ;  where,  after  looking  down  all 
the  hatchways,  and  seeing  nobody  but 
the  officer  of  the  watch  and  one  or  two 
more,  he  no  doubt  thought  they  might 
plunder  her  with  ease ;  especially  as 
she  lay  at  some  distance  from  us.  It 
was  unquestionably  with  this  view 
that  they  all  repaired  to  her.  Several 
of  them,  without  any  ceremony,  went 
on  board,  drew  their  knives,  made 
signs  to  the  officer  and  people  on  deck 
to  keep  off,  and  began  to  look  about, 
them  for  plunder.  The  first  thing 


280 


COOK'S  VOYAGES. 


they  met  with  was  the  rudder  of  one 
of  the  boats,  which  they  threw  over- 
board to  those  of  their  part}7  who  had 
remained  in  the  canoes.  Before  they 
had  time  to  find  another  object  that 
pleased  their  fancy,  the  crew  were 
alarmed,  and  began  to  come  upon 
deck  armed  with  cutlasses.  On  see- 
ing this,  the  whole  company  of  plun- 
derers sneaked  off  into  their  canoes 
with  as  much  deliberation  and  indif- 
ference as  they  had  given  up  the  boat ; 
and  they  were  observed  describing,  to 
those  who  had  not  been  on  board,  how 
much  longer  the  knives  of  the  ship's 
crew  were  than  their  own.  It  was  at 
this  time  that  my  boat  was  on  the 
sounding  duty,  which  they  must  have 
seen,  for  they  proceeded  directly  for 
her  after  their  disappointment  at  the 
Discovery.  I  have  not  the  least  doubt 
that  their  visiting  us  so  very  early  in 
the  morning  was  with  a  vie  w  to  plun  der, 
on  the  supposition  that  they  should 
find  everybody  asleep.  May  we  not 
from  these  circumstances  reasonably 
infer  that  these  people  are  unac- 
quainted with  fire-arms  ?  For  cer- 
tainly, if  they  had  known  anything 
of  their  effect,  they  never  would  have 
dared  to  attempt  taking  a  boat  from 
under  a  ship's  guns  in  the  face  of 
above  100  men ;  for  most  of  my  people 
were  looking  at  them  at  the  very  in- 
stant they  made  the  attempt.  How- 
ever, after  all  these  tricks,  we  had  the 


in  this  respect  as  we  found  them  ;  for 
they  neither  heard  nor  saw  a  musket 
fired  unless  at  birds. 

Just  as  we  were  going  to  weigh  the 
anchor  to  proceed  farther  up  the  bay, 
it  began  to  blow  and  to  rain  as  hard 
as  before,  so  that  we  were  obliged  to 
veer  away  the  cable  again  and  lay  fast. 
Towards  the  evening,  finding  that  the 
gale  did  not  moderate,  and  that  it 
might  be  some  time  before  an  oppor- 
tunity offered  to  get  higher  up,  I  came 
to  a  resolution  to  heel  the  ship  where 
we  were  ;  and  with  this  view  moored 
her  with  a  kedge-anchor  and  hawser. 
In  heaving  the  anchor  out  of  the  boat, 
one  of  the  seamen,  either  through  ignor- 
ance or  carelessness,  or  both,  was  car- 


[TOY. III.  B  IV.CH.IV. 

followed  the  anchor  to  the  bottom. 
It  is  remarkable  that  in  this  very 
critical  situation  he  had  presence  of 
mind  to  disengage  himself,  and  come 
up  to  the  surface  of  the  water,  where 
he  was  taken  up  with  one  of  his  legs 
fractured  in  a  dangerous  manner.  Early 
the  next  morning  we  gave  the  ship  a 
good  heel  to  port,  in  order  to  come  at 
and  stop  the  leak.  On  ripping  off  the 
sheathing,  it  was  found  to  be  in  the 
seams,  which  were  very  open  both  in 
and  under  the  wale ;  and  in  several 
places  not  a  bit  of  oakum  in  them. 
While  the  carpenters  were  making 
good  these  defects,  we  filled  all  our 
empty  water-casks  at  a  stream  hard  by 
the  ship.  The  wind  was  now  moder- 
ate, but  the  weather  was  thick  and 
hazy,  with  rain.  The  natives,  who 
left  us  the  preceding  day,  when  the 
bad  weather  came  on,  paid  us  another 
visit  this  morning.  Those  who  came 
first  were  in  small  canoes ;  others 
afterwards  arrived  in  large  boats,  in 
one  of  which  were  twenty  women  and 
one  man,  besides  children. 

In  the  evening  of  the  16th  the 
weather  cleared  up,  and  we  then 
found  ourselves  surrounded  on  every 
side  by  land.  Our  station  was  on  the 
east  side  of  the  sound,  in  a  place  which 
in  the  chart  is  distinguished  by  the 
name  of  Snug  Corner  Bay.  And  a 
very  snug  place  it  is.  I  went,  accom- 
panied by  some  of  the  officers,  to  view 
the  head  of  it ;  and  we  found  that  it 
was  sheltered  from  all  winds,  with  a 
depth  of  water  from  seven  to  three 
fathoms  over  a  muddy  bottom.  The 
land  near  the  shore  is  low,  part  clear 
and  part  wooded.  The  clear  ground 
was  covered  two  or  three  feet  thick 
with  snow,  but  very  little  lay  in  the 
woods.  The  very  summits  of  the 
neighbouring  hills  were  covered  with 
wood,  but  those  farther  inland  seemed 
to  be  naked  rocks  buried  in  snow. 

The  leak  being  stopped,  and  the 
sheathing  made  good  over  it,  at  4 
o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the  17th 
we  weighed  and  steered  to  the  north- 
westward, with  a  light  breeze  at  ENE., 
thinking  if  there  should  be  any  pass- 
age to  the  north  through  this  inlet 


ried  overboard  by  the  buoy-rope,  and  |  that  it  must  be  in  that  direction.    At 


MAT  1778.] 


PRINCE  WILLIAM'S  SOUND. 


281 


length,  about  1  o'clock,  with  the 
assistance  of  our  boats,  we  got  to  an 
anchor  under  the  eastern  shore  in 
thirteen  fathoms  water,  and  about 
four  leagues  to  the  north  of  our  last 
station.  In  the  morning  the  weather 
had  been  very  hazy,  but  it  afterwards 
cleared  up  so  as  to  give  us  a  distinct 
view  of  all  the  land  round  us,  parti- 
cularly to  the  northward,  where  it 
seemed  to  close.  This  left  us  but 
little  hopes  of  finding  a  passage  that 
way,  or  indeed  in  any  other  direction, 
without  putting  out  again  to  sea. 

To  enable  me  to  form  a  better  judg- 
ment, I  despatched  Mr  Gore  with  two 
armed  boats  to  examine  the  northern 
arm,  and  the  master  with  two  other 
boats  to  examine  another  arm  that 
seemed  to  take  an  easterly  direction. 
Late  in  the  evening  they  both  returned. 
The  master  reported  that  the  arm  he 
had  been  sent  to  communicated  with 
that  from  which  he  had  last  come, 
and  that  one  side  of  it  was  only  formed 
by  a  group  of  islands.  Mr  Gore  in- 
formed me  that  he  had  seen  the  en- 
trance of  an  arm  which,  he  was  of 
opinion,  extended  a  long  way  to  the 
north-east,  and  that  probably  by  it  a 
passage  might  be  found.  On  the  other 
hand,  Mr  Roberts,  one  of  the  mates 
whom  I  had  sent  with  Mr  Gore  to 
sketch  out  the  parts  they  had  ex- 
amined, was  of  opinion  that  they  saw 
the  head  of  this  arm.  The  disagree- 
ment of  these  two  opinions,  and  the 
circumstance  already  mentioned  of  the 
flood-tide  entering  the  sound  from  the 
south,  rendered  the  existence  of  a 
passage  this  way  very  doubtful.  And 
as  the  wind  in  the  morning  had  be- 
come favourable  for  getting  out  to 
sea,  I  resolved  to  spend  no  more  time 
in  searching  for  a  passage  in  a  place 
that  promised  so  little  success.  Besides 
this,  I  considered  that  if  the  land  on 
the  west  should  prove  to  be  islands, 
agreeably  to  the  late  Russian  dis- 
coveries, we  could  not  fail  of  getting 
far  enough  to  the  north,  and  that  in 
good  time,  provided  we  did  not  lose 
the  season  in  searching  places  where 
a  passage  was  not  only  doubtful  but 
improbable.  "We  were  now  upwards 
of  520  leagues  to  the  westward  of  any 


part  of  Baffin's  or  of  Hudson's  Bay  ; 
and  whatever  passage  there  may  be, 
it  must  be,  or  at  least  part  of  it  must 
lie,  to  the  north  of  Latitude  72°. 
Who  could  expect  to  find  a  passage 
or  strait  of  such  extent  ? l 

"  [To  this  wide  inlet  which  he  had 
entered,  Cook  gave]  the  name  of 
Prince  William's  Sound,  and  here 
was  surprised  to  find  that  the  natives, 
in  dress,  language,  and  physical  pecu- 
liarities, were  exactly  like  the  Esqui- 
maux of  Hudson's  Bay.  Beautiful 
skins  were  obtained  in  plenty  from 
these  people  for  a  very  moderate  price. 
On  proceeding  to  the  north-west,  a 
wide  inlet  was  discovered,  which  some 
conjectured  might  be  a  strait  com- 
municating with  the  Northern  Ocean. 
It  was  deemed,  therefore,  advisable  to 
explore  it ;  but  when  the  boats  had 
proceeded  as  high  as  Lat.  61°  34',  or 
about  seventy  leagues  from  the  en- 
trance, the  inlet  appeared  to  terminate 
in  a  small  river.  The  ships  now 
proceeded  to  the  west,  and  doubled  the 
great  promontory  of  Alashka  ;  and,  on 
the  9th  of  August,  they  reached  the 
most  westerly  point  of  the  American 
continent,  distantonly  thirteen  leagues 
from  the  opposite  shores  of  Asia.  To 
this  headland  Cook  gave  the  name 
Cape  Prince  of  Wales.  Crossing  the 
strait  to  the  western  shores,  he  anchor- 
ed near  the  coast  of  the  Tshuktzld, 
which  he  found  to  extend  many  de- 
grees farther  to  the  east  than  the 
position  assigned  to  them  in  the  maps 
of  that  day.  He  thus  ascertained  dis- 
tinctly the  width  of  the  strait  that 
separates  Asia  from  America ;  for 
though  Behring  had  sailed  through  it 
before,  he  had  not  descried  the  shores 
of  the  latter  continent,  and,  conse- 
quently, remained  ignorant  of  the 
importance  of  his  discoveries.  Our 
navigators  now  pushed  forward  into 
the  Northern  Ocean,  when  they  soon 

:  The  synopsis  of  remainder  of 
Chapter  IV.  to  middle  of  Chapter 
IX.,  Book  IV.,  in  Original  Edition,  is 
given  from  *'  Maritime  and  Inland 
Discovery,"  in  Lardner's  "  Cabinet 
Cyclopaedia,"  vol.  iii.,  pp.  80,  81. 


282 

fell  in  with  ice,  which  gave  them 
reason  to  suspect  the  impossibility  of 
continuing  their  voyage  much  farther. 
At  length,  on  the  18th  of  August, 
when  after  repeated  struggles  they  had 
attained  the  Latitude  of  70°  44',  they 
saw  the  ice  before  them,  extending  as 
far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  forming  a 
compact  wall  about  six  feet  high  :  it 
was  covered  with  a  multitude  of  wal- 
ruses or  sea-horses,  which  though 
coarse  food,  were  preferred  by  the  sea- 
men to  salt  provisions." 

We  now  stood  to  the  southward, 
and  after  running  six  leagues  shoaled 
the  water  to  seven  fathoms ;  but  it 
soon  deepened  to  nine  fathoms.  At 
this  time  the  weather,  which  had  been 
hazy,  clearing  up  a  little;  we  saw  land 
extending  from  S.  to  SE.  by  E.  about 
three  or  four  miles  distant.  The 
eastern  extreme  forms  a  point  which 
was  mucli  encumbered  with  ice ;  for 
which  reason  it  obtained  the  name  of 
Icy  Cape.  Its  latitude  is  70°  29'  and 
its  longitude  198°  20'.  The  other 
extreme  of  the  land  was  lost  in  the 
horizon,  so  that  there  can  be  no 
doubt  of  its  being  a  continuation 
of  the  American  continent.  The 
Discovery  being  about  a  mile  astern 
and  to  leeward,  found  less  water 
than  we  did ;  and  cacking  on  that 
account,  I  was  obliged  to  tack  also 
to  prevent  separation.  Our  situa- 
tion was  now  more  and  more  critical. 
We  were  in  shoal  water,  upon  a  lee 
shore,  and  the  main  body  of  the  ice 
to  windward,  driving  down  upon  us. 
It  was  evident  that  if  we  remained 
much  longer  between  it  and  the  land, 
it  would  force  us  ashore,  unless  it 
should  happen  to  take  the  ground 
before  us.  It  seemed  nearly  to  join 
the  land  to  leeward,  and  the  only  di- 
rection that  was  open  was  to  the  SW. 
After  making  a  short  board  to  the 
northward,  I  made  the  signal  for  the 
Discovery  to  tack,  and  tacked  myself 
at  the  same  time.  The  wind  proved 
rather  favourable ;  so  that  we  lay  up 
SW.  and  SW.  by  W. 

At  eight  in  the  morning  of  the  19th, 
the  wind  veering  back  to  W.,  I  tacked 
to  the  northward ;  and  at  noon  the 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.        [Voy.III.B.IV.CH.IV. 


latitude  was  70°  6'  and  the  longitude 
196°  42'.  In  this  situation  we  had  a 
good  deal  of  drift-ice  about  us,  and 
the  main  ice  was  about  two  leagues 
to  the  north.  At  half -past  one  we 
got  in  with  the  edge  of  it.  It  was 
not  so  compact  as  that  which  we  had 
seen  to  the  northward;  but  it  was 
too  close,  and  in  too  large  pieces,  to 
attempt  forcing  the  ships  through  it. 
On  the  ice  lay  a  prodigious  number 
of  sea-horses;1  and  as  we  were  in 
want  of  fresh  provisions,  the  boats 
from  each  ship  were  sent  to  get  some. 
By  7  o'clock  in  the  evening  we  had 
received  on  board  the  Resolution  nine 
of  these  animals,  which  till  now  we 
had  supposed  to  be  sea-cows ;  so  that 
we  were  not  a  little  disappointed, 
especially  some  of  the  seamen,  who 
for  the  novelty  of  the  thing  had  been 
feasting  their  eyes  for  some  days  past. 
Nor  would  they  have  been  disap- 
pointed now,  nor  have  known  the 
difference,  if  we  had  not  happened  to 
have  one  or  two  on  board  who  had 
been  in  Greenland,  and  declared  what 
animals  these  were,  and  that  no  one 
ever  ate  of  them.  But  notwithstand- 
ing this  we  lived  upon  them  as  long 
as  they  lasted ;  and  there  were  few 
on  board  who  did  not  prefer  them  to 
our  salt  meat.  The  fat  at  first  is  as 
sweet  as  marrow,  but  in  a  few  days  it 
grows  rancid,  unless  it  be  salted ;  in 
which  state  it  will  keep  much  longer. 
The  lean  flesh  is  coarse,  black,  and 
has  rather  a  strong  taste ;  and  the 
heart  is  nearly  as  well  tasted  as  that 
of  a  bullock.  The  fat,  when  melted, 
yields  a  good  deal  of  oil,  which  burns 
very  well  in  lamps ;  and  their  hides, 
which  are  very  thick,  were  very  use- 
ful about  our  rigging.  The  teeth  or 
tusks  of  most  of  them  were  at  this 
time  very  small;  even  some  of  the 
largest  and  oldest  of  these  animals 
had  them  not  exceeding  six  inches  in 
length.  From  this  we  concluded  that 
they  had  lately  shed  their  old  teeth. 
They  lie  in  herds  of  many  hundreds 
upon  the  ice,  huddling  one  over  the 
other  like  swine  ;  and  roar  or  bray 
very  loud,  so  that  in  the  night  or  ID. 


1  Walrus. 


AUG.  1778.] 


THE  SEA-HORSE,  OR  WALRUS. 


foggy  weather  they  gave  us  notice  of 
the  vicinity  of  the  ice  before  we  could 
see  it.  "We  never  found  the  whole 
herd  asleep,  some  being  always  upon 
the  watch.  These,  on  the  approach 
of  the  boat,  would  wake  those  next 
to  them,  and  the  alarm  being  thus 
gradually  communicated,  the  whole 
herd  would  be  awake  presently.  But 
they  were  seldom  in  a  hurry  to  get 
away  till  after  they  had  been  once 
fired  at.  Then  they  would  tumble 
one  over  the  other  into  the  sea  in  the 
utmost  confusion  ;  and  if  we  did  not 
at  the  first  discharge  kill  those  we 
fired  at,  we  generally  lost  them, 
though  mortally  wounded.  They 
did  not  appear  to  us  to  be  that  dan- 
gerous animal  some  authors  have  de- 
scribed, not  even  when  attacked. 
They  are  rather  more  so  to  appear- 
ance than  in  reality.  Vast  numbers 
of  them  would  follow  and  come  close 
up  to  the  boats ;  but  the  flash  of  a 
musket  in  the  pan,  or  even  the  bare 
pointing  of  one  at  them,  would  send 
them  down  in  an  instant.  The 
female  will  defend  the  young  one  to 
the  very  last,  and  at  the  expense  of  her 
own  life,  whether  in  the  water  or 
upon  the  ice.  Nor  will  the  young 
one  quit  the  dam  though  she  be  dead ; 
so  that  if  you  kill  one  you  are  sure  of 
the  other.  The  dam,  when  in  the 
water,  holds  the  young  one  between 
her  fore-fins.  Why  they  should  be 
called  sea-horses  is  hard  to  say,  unless 
the  word  be  a  corruption  of  the  Rus- 
sian name  "morse,"  for  they  have 
not  the  least  resemblance  of  a  horse. 
This  is  without  doubt  the  same  ani- 
mal that  is  found  in  the  Gulf  of  St 
Lawrence,  and  there  called  sea-cow. 
It  is  certainly  more  like  a  cow  than 
a  horse,  but  this  likeness  consists  in 
nothing  but  the  snout.  In  short,  it 
is  an  animal  like  a  seal,  but  incom- 
parably larger.  The  dimensions  and 
weight  of  one,  which  was  none  of  the 
largest,  were  as  follows  : 

Ft.    In. 
Length  from  the  snout  to  the 

tail, 94 

Length  of  the  neck  from  the 

snout  to  the  shoulder-bone,     2     6 
Height  of  the  shoulder,         .     5    0 


283 

Ft.  In. 
2  4 
2  6 


Length  of  the  fins, 
Breadthofthefins,|Fore       -     1 


Q       .    (  Breadth, 

Snout>  i  Depth,    .         .         .13 

Circumference    of   the    neck 

close  to  the  ears,        .         .27 
Circumference  of  the  body  at 

the  shoulder,     .         .         .     7  10 
Circumference  near  the  hind 

fins,  ....     5     6 

From  the  snout  to  the  eyes,  .     0    7 

Weight  of  the  carcase,  without  Lb< 

the  head,  skin,  or  entrails,  854 

Head, 414 

Skin, 205 

I  could  not  find  out  what  these  ani- 
mals feed  upon.  There  was  nothing 
in  the  maws  of  those  we  killed. 

It  is  worth  observing  that  for  some 
days  before  this  date  we  had  fre- 
quently seen  flocks  of  ducks  flying  to 
the  southward.  They  were  of  two 
sorts,  the  one  much  larger  than  the 
other.  The  largest  were  of  a  brown 
colour ;  and  of  the  small  sort  either 
the  duck  or  drake  was  black  and 
white,  and  the  other  brown.  Some 
said  they  saw  geese  also.  Does  not 
this  indicate  that  there  must  be  land 
to  the  north  where  these  birds  find 
shelter  in  the  proper  season,  to  breed, 
and  whence  they  were  now  returning 
to  a  Warmer  climate  ? 

By  the  time  we  had  got  our  sea- 
horses on  board,  we  were  in  a  manner 
surrounded  with  the  ice,  and  had  no 
way  left  to  clear  it  but  by  standing  to 
the  southward ;  which  was  done  till 
3  o'clock  next  morning,  with  a  gentle 
breeze  westerly,  and  for  the  most  part 
thick,  foggy  weather.  The  soundings 
were  from  twelve  to  fifteen  fathoms. 
We  then  tacked  and  stood  to  the  north 
till  10  o'clock,  when,  the  wind  veer- 
ing to  the  northward,  we  directed  our 
course  to  the  WSW.  and  W.  At  two 
in  the  afternoon  we  fell  in  with  the 
main  ice,  along  the  edge  of  which  we 
kept ;  being  partly  directed  by  the 
roaring  of  the  sea-horses,  for  we  had 
a  very  thick  fog.  Thus  we  continued 


284 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.         [VoY.  III.  B.  IV.  OH.  TV 


sailing  till  near  midnight,  when  we  got 
in  amongst  the  loose  ice,  and  heard 
the  surge  of  the  sea  upon  the  main 
ice.  The  fog  being  very  thick,  and 
the  wind  easterly,  I  now  hauled  to 
the  southward ;  and  at  10  o'clock  the 
next  morning,  the  fog  clearing  away, 
we  saw  the  continent  of  America,  ex- 
tending from  S.  by  E.  to  E.  by  S. ; 
and  at  noon  from  SW.  half  S.  to  E., 
the  nearest  part  five  leagues  distant. 
At  this  time  we  were  in  the  Latitude 
of  69°  32'  and  in  the  Longitude  of 
195°  48' ;  and  as  the  main  ice  was  at 
no  great  distance  from  us,  it  is  evident 
that  it  now  covered  a  part  of  the  sea 
which  but  a  few  days  before  had  been 
clear,  and  that  it  extended  farther  to 
the  south  than  where  we  first  fell  in 
with  it.  It  must  not  be  understood 
that  I  supposed  any  part  of  this  ice 
which  we  had  seen  to  be  fixed ;  on  the 
contrary,  I  am  well  assured  that  the 
whole  was  a  movable  mass. 

Having  but  little  wind,  in  the 
afternoon  I  sent  the  master  in  a  boat 
to  try  if  there  was  any  current ;  but 
lie  found  none.  I  continued  to  steer 
in  for  the  American  land  until  8 
o'clock,  in  order  to  get  a  nearer  view  of 
it,  and  to  look  for  a  harbour ;  but 
seeing  nothing  like  one,  I  stood  again 
to  the  north,  with  a  light  breeze 
westerly.  At  this  time  the  coast  ex- 
tended from  SW.  to  E.  ;  the  nearest 
part  four  or  five  leagues  distant.  The 
southern  extreme  seemed  to  form  a 
point,  which  was  named  Cape  Lis- 
burne.  It  lies  in  the  Latitude  of  69° 
5'  and  in  the  Longitude  of  194°  42', 
and  appeared  to  be  pretty  high  land, 
even  down  to  the  sea.  But  there  may 
be  low  land  under  it  which  we  might 
not  see,  being  not  less  than  ten  leagues 
from  it.  Everywhere  else,  as  we  ad- 
vanced northward,  we  had  found  a 
low  coast  from  which  the  land  rises 
to  a  middle  height.  The  coast  now 
before  us  was  without  snow,  except  in 
one  or  two  places,  and  had  a  greenish 
hue  ;  but  we  could  not  perceive  any 
wood  upon  it. 

On  the  22d  the  wind  was  southerly, 
and  the  weather  mostly  foggy,  with 
gome  intervals  of  sunshine.  At  eight 
in  the  evening  it  fell  calm,  which  con- 


tinued till  midnight,  when  we  heard 
the  surge  of  the  sea  against  the  ice, 
and  had  several  loose  pieces  about  us. 
A  light  breeze  now  sprang  up  at  NE., 
and  as  the  fog  was  very  thick,  I 
steered  to  the  southward  to  clear  the 
ice.  At  8  o'clock  next  morning  the 
fog  dispersed,  and  I  hauled  to  the 
westward.  For  finding  that  I  could 
not  get  to  the  north  near  the  coast 
on  account  of  the  ice,  I  resolved  to 
try  what  could  be  done  at  a  distance 
from  it;  and  as  the  wind  seemed  to 
be  settled  at  N.  I  thought  it  a  good 
opportunity.  As  we  advanced  to  the 
W.,  the  water  deepened  gradually  to 
twenty-eight  fathoms,  which  was  the 
most  we  had.  With  the  northerly 
wind  the  air  was  raw,  sharp,  and 
cold ;  and  we  had  fogs,  sunshine, 
showers  of  snow  and  sleet,  by  turns. 
At  ten  in  the  morning  of  the  26th  we 
fell  in  with  the  ice.  At  noon,  it  ex- 
tended from  NW.  to  E.  by  N.,  and 
appeared  to  be  thick  and  compact. 
At  this  time  we  were  by  observation 
in  the  Latitude  of  69°  36',  and  in  the 
Longitude  of  184°,  so  that  it  now  ap- 
peared we  had  no  better  prospect  of 
getting  to  the  north  here  than  nearer 
the  shore.  I  continued  to  stand  to 
the  westward  till  five  in  the  afternoon, 
when  we  were  in  a  manner  embayed 
by  the  ice,  which  appeared  high,  and 
very  close  in  the  NW.  and  NE.  quar- 
ters, with  a  great  deal  of  loose  ice 
about  the  edge  of  the  main  field.  At 
this  time  we  had  baffling  light  winds, 
but  it  soon  fixed  at  S.,  and  increased 
to  a  fresh  gale,  with  showers  of  rain. 
We  got  the  tack  aboard  and  stretched 
to  the  eastward,  this  being  the  only 
direction  in  which  the  sea  was  clear 
of  ice. 

At  four  in  the  morning  of  the  27th 
we  tacked  and  stood  to  the  W.,  and  at 
seven  in  the  evening  we  were  close  in 
with  the  edge  of  the  ice,  which  lay  ENE. 
and  WSW.,  as  far  each  way  as  the  eye 
could  reach.  Having  but  little  wind, 
I  went  with  the  boats  to  examine  the 
state  of  the  ice.  I  found  it  consisting 
of  loose  pieces  of  various  extent,  and 
so  close  together  that  I  could  hardly 
enter  the  outer  edge  with  a  boat ;  and 
it  was  as  impossible  for  the  ships  to 


.  1778.]  REMARKS  ON  THE 
enter  it  as  if  it  had  been  so  many 
rocks.  I  took  particular  notice  that 
it  was  all  pure,  transparent  ice,  except 
the  upper  surface,  which  was  a  little 
porous.  It  appeared  to  be  entirely 
composed  of  frozen  snow,  and  to  have 
been  all  formed  at  sea.  For  setting 
aside  the  improbability,  or  rather  im- 
possibility, of  such  huge  masses  float- 
ing out  of  rivers  in  which  there  is 
hardly  water  for  a  boat,  none  of  the 
productions  of  the  land  were  found 
incorporated  or  fixed  in  it,  which 
must  have  unavoidably  been  the  case 
had  it  been  formed  in  rivers  either 
great  or  small.  The  pieces  of  ice  that 
formed  the  outer  edge  of  the  field  were 
from  forty  to  fifty  yards  in  extent  to 
four  or  five  ;  and  I  judged  that  the 
larger  pieces  reached  thirty  feet  or 
more  under  the  surface  of  the  water. 
It  also  appeared  to  me  very  improb- 
able that  this  ice  could  have  been  the 
production  of  the  preceding  winter 
alone ;  1  should  suppose  it  rather  to 
have  been  the  production  of  a  great 
many  winters.  Nor  was  it  less  im- 
probable, according  to  my  judgment, 
that  the  little  that  remained  of  the 
summer  could  destroy  the  tenth  part 
of  what  now  subsisted  of  this  mass ; 
for  the  sun  had  already  exerted  upon 
it  the  full  influence  of  its  rays.  Indeed 
I  am  of  opinion  that  the  sun  contri- 
butes very  little  toward  reducing  these 
great  masses.  For  although  that 
luminary  is  a  considerable  while  above 
the  horizon,  it  seldom  shines  out  for 
more  than  a  few  hours  at  a  time,  and 
is  not  seen  for  several  days  in  succes- 
sion. It  is  the  wind,  or  rather  the 
waves  raised  by  the  wind,  that  bring 
down  the  bulk  of  these  enormous 
masses,  by  grinding  one  piece  against 
another,  and  by  undermining  and 
washing  away  those  parts  that  lie  ex- 
posed to  the  surge  of  the  sea.  This 
was  evident  from  our  observing  that 
the  upper  surface  of  many  pieces  had 
been  partly  washed  away,  while  the 
babe  or  under  part  remained  firm  for 
several  fathoms  round  that  which  ap- 
peared above  water,  exactly  like  a 
shoal  round  an  elevated  rock.  "We 
measured  the  depth  of  water  upon 
<me,  and  found  it  to  be  iutfcen  i'eet,  so 


FORMATION  OF  ICE. 


285 


that  the  ships  might  have  sailed  over 
it.  If  I  had  not  measured  this  depth 
I  should  not  have  believed  that  there 
was  a  sufficient  weight  of  ice  above  the 
surface  to  have  sunk  the  other  so 
much  below  it.  Thus  it  may  happen 
that  more  ice  is  destroyed  in  one 
stormy  season  than  is  formed  in  seve- 
ral winters,  and  an  endless  accumula- 
tion is  prevented.  But  that  there  is 
always  a  remaining  store,  every  one 
who  has  been  upon  the  spot  will  con- 
clude, and  none  but  closet-studying 
philosophers  will  dispute.  A  thick 
fog  which  came  on  while  I  was  thus 
employed  with  the  boats  hastened  me 
aboard  rather  sooner  than  I  could 
have  wished,  with  one  sea-horse  to 
each  ship.  "We  had  killed  more,  but 
could  not  wait  to  bring  them  with  us. 
The  number  of  these  animals  on  all 
the  ice  that  we  had  seen  is  almost  in- 
credible. "We  spent  the  night  stand- 
ing off  and  on  amongst  the  drift  ice  ; 
and  at  9  o'clock  the  next  morning, 
the  fog  having  partly  dispersed,  boats 
from  each  ship  were  sent  for  sea- 
horses. For  by  this  time  our  people 
began  to  relish  them,  and  those  we 
had  procured  before  were  all  consumed. 
At  noon  our  Latitude  was  69°  17',  our 
Longitude  183°.  At  2  o'clock,  having 
got  on  board  as  much  marine  beef  as 
was  thought  necessary,  and  the  wind 
freshening  at  SSE. ,  we  took  on  board 
the  boats  and  stretched  to  the  SW. 
But  not  being  able  to  weather  the  ice 
upon  this  tack,  or  to  go  through  it, 
we  made  aboard  to  the  E.  till  8  o'clock, 
then  resumed  our  course  to  the  SW., 
and  before  midnight  were  obliged  to 
tack  again  on  account  of  the  ice. 
Soon  after  the  wind  shifted  to  the 
NW.,  blowing  a  stiff  gale,  and  we 
stretched  to  the  SW.  close  hauled. 

In  the  morning  of  the  29th  we  saw 
the  main  ice  to  the  northward,  and 
not  long  after,  land  bearing  SW.  by 
W.  Presently  after  this  more  land 
showed  itself,  bearing  W.  It  showed 
itself  in  two  hills  like  islands,  but 
afterwards  the  whole  appeared  con- 
nected. As  we  approached  the  land, 
the  depth  of  water  decreased  very  fast, 
so  that  at  noon,  when  we  tacked,  we 
liua  only  eigiit  Jiuiionis,  being  tlireo 


286 


COOK'S  VOYAGES. 


rVoY.ITT.B.IV.OH.V. 


miles  from  the  coaat,  which  extended 
from  S.  30°  E.  to  N.  60°  W.  This 
last  extreme  terminated  in  a  bluff 
point,  being  one  of  the  hills  above 
mentioned.  The  weather  at  this  time 
was  very  hazy,  with  drizzling  rain, 
but  soon  after  it  cleared,  especially  to 
the  southward,  westward,  and  north- 
ward. This  enabled  us  to  have  a 
pretty  good  view  of  the  coast,  which 
in  every  respect  is  like  the  opposite 
one  of  America  ;  that  is,  low  land 
next  the  sea,  with  elevated  land  far- 
ther back.  It  was  perfectly  destitute 
of  wood,  and  even  snow,  but  was 
probably  covered  with  a  mossy  sub- 
stance that  gave  it  a  brownish  cast. 
In  the  low  ground  lying  between  the 
high  land  and  the  sea  was  a  lake  ex- 
tending to  the  SE.  farther  than  we 
could  see.  As  we  stood  oif,  the 
westernmost  of  the  two  hills  before 
inentionetl  came  open  off  the  bluff 
point  in  the  direction  of  KW.  It 
had  the  appearance  of  being  an  island ; 
but  it  might  be  joined  to  the  other 
by  low  land,  though  we  did  not  see 
it ;  and  if  so  there  is  a  two-fold  point, 
with  a  bay  between  them.  This  point, 
which  is  steep  and  rocky,  was  named 
Cape  North.  Its  situation  is  nearly 
in  the  Latitude  of  68°  56',  and  in  the 
Longitude  of  180°  51'.  The  coast 
beyond  it  must  take  a  very  westerly 
direction,  for  we  could  see  no  land  to 
the  northward  of  it,  though  the  hori- 
zon was  there  pretty  clear.  Being 
desirous  of  seeing  more  of  the  coast 
to  the  westward,  we  tacked  again  at 
2  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  thinking 
we  could  weather  Cape  North  ;  but 
finding  we  could  not,  the  wind  fresh- 
ening, a  thick  fog  coming  on  with 
much  snow,  and  being  fearful  of  the 
ice  coming  down  upon  us,  I  gave  up 
the  design  I  had  formed  of  plying  to  the 
westward,  and  stood  off  shore  again. 

The  season  was  now  so  far  advanced, 
and  the  time  when  the  frost  is  ex- 
pected to  set  in  so  near  at  hand,  that 
I  did  not  think  it  consistent  with 
prudence  to  make  any  further  at- 
tempts to  find  a  passage  into  the 
Atlantic  this  year  in  any  direction, 
so  little  was  the  prospect  of  succeed- 
ing. My  attention  was  now  directed 


toward  finding  out  some  place  where 
we  might  supply  ourselves  with  wood 
and  water;  and  the  object  uppermost 
in  my  thoughts  was  how  I  should 
spend  the  winter  so  as  to  make  some 
improvements  in  geography  and  navi- 
gation, and  at  the  same  time  be  in  a 
condition  to  return  to  the  north  in 
further  search  of  a  passage  the  ensuing 
summer. 


CHAPTER  V.i 

AFTER  having  stood  off  till  we  got 
into  eighteen  fathoms  water,  I  bore 
up  to  the  eastward  along  the  coast, 
which  by  this  time  it  was  pretty  cer- 
tain could  only  be  the  continent  of 
Asia.  As  the  wind  blew  fresh,  with 
a  very  heavy  fall  of  snow  and  a  thick 
mist,  it  was  necessary  to  proceed  with 
great  caution.  I  therefore  brought  to 
for  a  few  hours  in  the  night. 

At  daybreak  on  the  30th  we  made 
sail,  and  steered  such  a  course  as  I 
thought  would  bring  us  in  with  the 
land,  being  in  a  great  measure  guided 
by  the  lead ;  for  the  weather  was  as 
thick  as  ever,  and  it  snowed  inces- 
santly. At  ten  we  got  sight  of  the 
coast,  bearing  SW.  four  miles  distant, 
and  presently  after,  having  shoaled 
the  water  to  seven  fathoms,  we  hauled 
off.  At  this  time  a  very  low  point  or 
spit  bore  SSW.  four  miles  distant,  to 
the  E.  of  which  there  appeared  to  be 
a  narrow  channel  leading  into  some 
water  that  we  saw  over  the  point. 
Probably  the  lake  before  mentioned 
communicates  here  with  the  sea.  At 
noon,  the  mist  dispersing  for  a  short 
interval,  we  had  a  tolerably  good  view 
of  the  coast,  which  extended  from 
SE.  to  NW.  by  W.  Some  parts  ap- 
peared higher  than  others,  but  in 
general  it  was  very  low,  with  high 
land  farther  up  the  country.  The 
whole  was  now  covered  with  snow, 
which  had  lately  fallen,  quite  down 
to  the  sea.  I  continued  to  range 
along  the  coast  at  two  leagues'  dis- 
tance till  ten  at  night,  when  we 
hauled  off;  but  we  resumed  our  course 

1  Chapter  X.  in  Original  Edition. 


SEPT.  1778.]  RETURN  ALONG 

next  morning  soon  after  daybreak, 
when  we  got  sight  of  the  coast  again, 
extending  from  W.  to  SE.  by  S.  At 
eight  the  eastern  part  bore  S.,  and 
proved  to  be  an  island,  which  at  noon 
bore  SW.  half  S.  four  or  five  miles 
distant.  It  is  about  four  or  five  miles 
in  circuit,  of  a  middling  height,  with 
a  steep,  rocky  coast,  situated  about 
three  leagues  from  the  main,  in  the 
Latitude  of  67°  45',  and  distinguished 
in  the  chart  by  the  name  of  Burney's 
Island.  The  inland  country  here- 
abouts is  full  of  hills,  some  of  which 
are  of  a  considerable  height.  The 
land  was  covered  with  snow,  except  a 
few  spots  upon  the  sea- coast,  which 
still  continued  low,  but  less  so  than 
farther  westward.  For  the  two  pre- 
ceding days  the  main  height  of  the 
mercury  in  the  thermometer  had  been 
very  little  above  the  freezing  point, 
and  often  below  it ;  so  that  the  water 
in  the  vessels  upon  the  deck  was  fre- 
quently covered  with  a  sheet  of  ice. 

I  continued  to  steer  SSE.,  nearly 
in  the  direction  of  the  coast,  till  five 
in  the  afternoon,  when  land  was  seen 
bearing  S.  50°  E. ,  which  we  presently 
found  to  be  a  continuation  of  the 
coast,  and  hauled  up  for  it.  Being 
abreast  of  the  eastern  land  at  ten  at 
night,  and  in  doubts  of  weathering  it, 
we  tacked  and  made  a  board  to  the 
westward  till  past  one  the  next  morn- 
ing, when  we  stood  again  to  the  E., 
and  found  that  it  was  as  much  as  we 
could  do  to  keep  our  distance  from 
the  coast ;  the  wind  being  exceedingly 
unsettled,  varying  continually  from 
N.  to  NE.  At  half-an-hour  past 
eight,  the  eastern  extreme  above 
mentioned  bore  S.  by  E.  six  or  seven 
miles  distant.  At  the  same  time  a 
headland  appeared  in  sight  bearing 
E.  by  S.  half  S.,  and  soon  after  we 
could  trace  the  whole  coast  lying  be- 
tween them,  and  a  small  island  at 
some  distance  from  it.  The  coast 
seemed  to  form  several  rocky  points, 
connected  by  a  low  shore,  without 
the  least  appearance  of  a  harbour. 
At  some  distance  from  the  sea  the 
low  land  appeared  to  swell  into  a 
number  of  hills.  The  highest  of  these 
were  covered  with  snow,  and  in  other 


COAST  OF  ASIA. 


287 


respects  the  whole  country  seemed 
naked.  At  seven  in  the  evening  two 
points  of  land,  at  some  distance  be- 
yond the  eastern  head,  opened  off  it 
in  the  direction  of  S.  37°  E.  I  was 
now  well  assured  of  what  I  had  be- 
lieved before,  that  this  was  the  coun- 
try of  the  Tschutski,  or  the  north-east 
coast  of  Asia,  and  that  thus  far  Beh- 
ring  proceeded  in  1728  ;  that  is,  to 
this  head,  which  Muller  says  is  called 
Serdze  Kamen,  on  account  of  a  rock 
upon  it  shaped  like  a  heart.  But  I 
conceive  that  Mr  Midler's  knowledge 
of  the  geography  of  these  parts  is  very 
imperfect.  There  are  many  elevated 
rocks  upon  this  cape,  and  possibly 
some  one  or  other  of  them  may  have 
the  shape  of  a  heart.  It  is  a  pretty 
lofty  promontory,  with  a  steep  rocky 
cliff  facing  the  sea,  and  lies  in  the 
Latitude  of  67°  3',  and  in  the  Longi- 
tude of  188°  11'.  To  the  eastward  of 
it  the  coast  is  high  and  bold  ;  but  to 
the  westward  it  is  low,  and  trends 
NNW.  and  NW.  by  W.,  which  is 
nearly  its  direction  all  the  way  to  Cape 
North.  The  soundings  are  everywhere 
the  same  at  the  same  distance  from 
the  shore,  which  is  also  the  case  on 
the  opposite  shore  of  America.  The 
greatest  depth  we  found  in  ranging 
along  it  was  twenty-three  fathoms. 
And  in  the  night,  or  in  foggy  weather, 
the  soundings  are  no  bad  guide  in 
sailing  along  either  of  these  shores. 

At  8  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the 
2d  the  most  advanced  land  to  the  SE. 
bore  S.  25°  E.,  and  from  this  point  of 
view  had  the  appearance  of  being  an 
island.  But  the  thick  snow  showers 
which  succeeded  one  another  pretty 
fast,  and  settled  upon  the  land,  hid 
great  part  of  the  coast  at  this  time 
from  our  sight.  Soon  after,  the  sun, 
whose  face  we  had  not  seen  for  near 
five  days,  broke  out  at  intervals  be- 
tween the  showers,  and  in  some 
measure  freed  the  coast  from  the  fog, 
so  that  we  had  a  sight  of  it,  and 
found  the  whole  to  be  connected. 
The  wind  still  continued  at  N.,  the 
air  was  cold,  and  the  mercury  in  the 
thermometer  never  rose  above  35°  and 
was  sometimes  as  low  as  30°.  At 
noon,  the  observed  Latitude  was  66" 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.          [VoY.  III.  B.  IV.  C*.  V. 


37'.  "We  had  now  fair  weather  and 
sunshine ;  and  as  we  ranged  along 
the  coast,  at  the  distance  of  four  miles, 
we  saw  several  of  the  inhabitants, 
and  some  of  their  habitations,  which 
looked  like  little  hillocks  of  earth. 
In  the  evening  we  passed  the  Eastern 
Cape,  or  the  point  above  mentioned, 
from  which  the  coast  changes  its 
direction  and  trends  SW.  It  is  the 
same  point  of  land  which  we  had 
passed  on  the  llth  of  August.  They 
who  believed  implicitly  in  Mr  Staeh- 
lin's  map  then  thought  it  the  east 
point  of  his  island  Alashka ;  but  we 
had  by  this  time  satisfied  ourselves 
that  it  is  no  other  than  the  eastern 
promontory  of  Asia,  and  probably  the 
proper  Tschukotskoi  Noss,  though  the 
promontory  to  which  Behring  gave 
that  name  is  farther  to  the  SW.  It 
is  a  peninsula  of  considerable  height, 
joined  to  the  continent  by  a  very  loW 
and,  to  appearance,  narrow  neck  of 
land.  It  shows  a  steep  rocky  cliff 
next  the  sea,  and  off  the  very  point 
are  some  rocks  like  spires.  It  is 
situated  in  the  Latitude  of  66°  6',  and 
in  the  Longitude  of  190°  22',  and  is 
distant,  from  Cape  Prince  of  Wales,  on 
the  American  coast,  thirteen  leagues, 
in  the  direction  of  N.  53°  W.  The 
land  about  this  promontory  is  com- 
posed of  hills  and  valleys.  The  former 
terminate  at  the  sea  in  steep  rocky 
points,  and  the  latter  in  low  shores. 
The  hills  seemed  to  be  naked  rocks, 
but  the  valleys  had  a  greenish  hue, 
but  destitute  of  tree  or  shrub. 1 

After  passing  the  cape,  I  steered 
SW.  half  W.,  for  the  northern  point 
of  St  Laurence  Bay,  in  which  we  had 
anchored  on  the  10th  of  last  month. 
We  reached  it  by  8  o'clock  next 
morning,  and  saw  some  of  the  inha- 

1  Deshniew's  voyage  in  1648,  in 
quest  of  the  Anadir  River,  is  consi- 
dered the  only  one  before  Cook's  in 
which  the  north-eastern  extremity  of 
Asia  was  doubled.  The  Cossack  navi- 
gator set  out  from  the  Kolima  river 
in  northern  Siberia,  and  passed  south- 
wards through  Behring's  Straits — not 
then,  of  course,  so  named,  or  named 
at  all — to  the  mouth  of  the  Anadir. 


bitants  at  the  place  where  I  had  seen 
them  before,  as  well  as  several  others 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  bay.  None 
of  them,  however,  attempted  to  come 
off  to  us  ;  which  seemed  a  little  extra- 
ordinary, as  the  weather  was  favour- 
able enough,  and  those  whom  we  had 
lately  visited  had  no  reason  that  I 
know  of  to  dislike  our  company. 
These  people  must  be  the  Tschutski ; 
a  nation  that,  at  the  time  Mr  Muller 
wrote,  the  Russians  had  not  been  able 
to  conquer.  And  from  the  whole  of 
their  conduct  with  us  it  appears  that 
they  have  not  as  yet  brought  them 
under  subjection  ;  though  it  is  obvioua 
that  they  must  have  a  trade  with  the 
Russians,  either  directly  or  by  means 
of  some  neighbouring  nation,  as  we 
cannot  otherwise  account  for  their 
being  in  possession  of  the  spontoons, 
in  particular,  of  which  we  took  notice. 
This  Bay  of  St  Laurence  3  is  at  least 
five  leagues  broad  at  the  entrance, 
and  four  leagues  deep,  narrowing  to- 
ward the  bottom,  where  it  appeared 
to  be  tolerably  well  sheltered  from  the 
sea-winds,  provided  there  be  sufficient 
depth  of  water  for  ships.  I  did  not 
wait  to  examine  it,  although  I  was 
very  desirous  of  finding  an  harbour  in 
those  parts  to  which  I  might  resort 
next  spring.  But  I  wanted  one  where 
wood  might  be  got,  and  I  knew  that 
none  was  to  be  found  here.  From  the 
south  point  of  this  bay,  which  lies  in 
the  Latitude  of  65°  30',  the  coast 
trends  W.  by  S.  for  about  nine  leagues, 
and  there  forms  a  deep  bay  or  river  ; 
or  else  the  land  there  is  so  low  that 
we  could  not  see  it.  At  one  in  the 
afternoon,  in  the  direction  of  our 
course,  we  saw  what  was  first  taken 
for  a  rock  ;  but  it  proved  to  be  a  dead 
whale,  which  some  natives  of  the 
Asiatic  coast  had  killed  and  were  tow- 

2  Captain  Cook  gives  it  this  name, 
having  anchored  in  it  on  St  Laurence's 
day,  August  10.  It  is  remarkable 
that  Behring  sailed  past  this  very 
place  on  the  10th  of  August  1728  ; 
on  which  account  the  neighbouring 
island  was  named  by  him  nftor  the 
same  saint— Note  in  Original  £di- 


SEPT.  1778.]        REMARKS  ON  B 

ing  ashore.  They  seemed  to  conceal 
themselves  behind  the  fish  to  avoid 
being  seen  by  us.  This  was  unneces- 
sary ;  for  we  pursued  our  course  with- 
out taking  any  notice  of  them. 

At  daybreak  on  the  4th  I  hauled  to 
the  NW.,  in  order  to  get  a  nearer 
view  of  the  inlet  seen  the  preceding 
day  ;  but  the  wind  soon  after  veering 
to  that  direction  I  gave  up  the  design, 
and,  steering  to  the  southward  along 
the  coast,  passed  two  bays,  each  about 
two  leagues  deep.  The  northernmost 
lies  before  a  hill  which  is  remarkable 
by  being  rounder  than  any  other  upon 
the  coast ;  and  there  is  an  island 
lying  before  the  other.  It  may  be 
doubted  whether  there  be  a  sufficient 
depth  for  ships  in  either  of  these  bays, 
as  we  always  met  with  shoal  water 
when  we  edged  in  for  the  shore.  The 
country  here  is  exceedingly  hilly  and 
naked.  In  several  places  on  the  low 
ground  next  the  sea  were  the  dwell- 
ings of  the  natives  :  and  near  all  of 
them  were  erected  stages  of  bones, 
such  as  before  described.  These  may 
be  seen  at  a  great  distance  on  account 
of  their  whiteness.  At  noon  the  Lati- 
tude was  64°  38'  and  the  Longitude 
188°  15';  the  southernmost  point  of 
the  main  in  sight  bore  S.  48°  W.,  and 
the  nearest  shore  about  three  or  four 
leagues  distant.  By  this  time  the 
wind  had  veered  again  to  the  N.,  and 
blew  a  gentle  breeze.  The  weather 
was  clear,  and  the  air  cold.  I  did 
not  follow  the  direction  of  the  coast, 
as  I  found  that  it  took  [a  westerly 
direction  toward  the  Gulf  of  Anadir, 
into  which  I  had  no  inducement  to 
go,  but  steered  to  the  southward,  in 
order  to  get  a  sight  of  the  Island  of 
St  Laurence,  discovered  by  Behring  ; 
which  accordingly  showed  itself,  and 
at  8  o'clock  in  the  evening  it  bore  S. 
20°  E.,  by  estimation,  eleven  leagues 
distant.  At  the  same  time  the  south- 
ernmost point  of  the  mainland  bore 
S.  83°  W.,  distant  twelve  leagues. 
I  take  this  point  to  be  the  point  which 
Behring  calls  the  East  Point  of  Su- 
chotski,  or  Cape  Tschukotskoi;  a  name 
which  he  gave  it,  and  with  propriety, 
because  it  was  from  this  part  of  the 
coast  that  the  natives  came  off  to  him 


EHRING'S  VOYAGE. 


289 


who  called  themselves  of  the  nation  of 
the  Tschutski.  I  make  its  Latitude 
to  be  64°  13'  and  its  Longitude  186° 
36'. 

In  justice  to  the  memory  of  Beh- 
ring, I  must  say  that  he  has  delineated 
the  coast  very  well,  and  fixed  the 
latitude  and  longitude  of  the  points 
better  than  could  be  expected  from 
the  methods  he  had  to  go  by.  This 
judgment  is  not  formed  from  Mr 
Midler's  account  of  the  voyage,  or  the 
chart  prefixed  to  his  book  ;  but  from 
Dr  Campbell's  account  of  it  in  his 
edition  of  Harris's  Collection,  and  a 
map  thereto  annexed,  which  is  both 
more  circumstantial  and  accurate  than 
that  of  Mr  Muller.  The  more  I  was 
convinced  of  my  being  now  upon  the 
coast  of  Asia,  the  more  I  was  at  a  loss 
to  reconcile  Mr  Staehlin's  map  of  the 
New  Northern  Archipelago  with  my 
observations ;  and  I  had  no  way  to 
account  for  the  great  difference,  but 
by  supposing  that  I  had  mistaken 
some  part  of  what  he  calls  the  Island 
of  Alashka  for  the  American  contin- 
ent, and  had  missed  the  channel  that 
separates  them .  Admitting  even  this, 
there  would  still -have  been  a  consider- 
able difference.  It  was  with  me  a 
matter  of  some  consequence  to  clear 
up  this  point  the  present  season,  that 
I  might  have  but  one  object  in  view 
the  next.  And,  as  these  northern 
isles  are  represented  by  him  as  abound- 
ing with  wood,  I  was  in  hopes,  if  I 
should  find  them,  of  getting  a  supply 
of  that  article,  which  we  now  began  to 
be  in  great  want  of  on  board.  With 
these  views  I  steered  over  for  the 
American  coast,  and  at  five  in  the 
afternoon  the  next  day  saw  land  beariu  g 
three-quarters  E.,  which  we  took  to  be 
Anderson's  Island  or  some  other  land 
near  it,  and  therefore  did  not  wait  to 
examine  it.  On  the  6th,  at  four  in  the 
morning,  we  got  sight  of  the  Ameri- 
can coast  near  Sledge  Island  ;  and  at 
six  the  same  evening  this  island  bore 
N.  6°  E.,  ten  leagues  distant,  and  the 
easternmost  land  in  sight  N.  49°  E. 
If  any  part  of  what  I  had  supposed  to 
be  American  coast  could  possibly  be 
the  Island  of  Alashka,  it  was  that  now 
before  us  ;  and  in  that  case  T  must 


290 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.          (Tor.  III.  B.  IV.  CH.  V. 


have  missed  the  channel  between  it 
and  the  main,  by  steering  to  the  west 
instead  of  the  east  after  we  first  fell 
in  with  it.  I  was  not,  therefore,  at  a 
loss  where  to  go  in  order  to  clear  up 
these  doubts. 

At  eight  in  the  evening  of  the  7th 
we  had  got  close  in  with  the  land, 
Sledge  Island  bearing  N.  85°  W., 
eight  or  nine  leagues  distant ;  and 
the  eastern  part  of  the  coast  N.  70° 
E.,  with  high  land  in  the  direction 
of  E.  by  N.,  seemingly  at  a  great  dis- 
tance beyond  the  point.  At  this  time 
we  saw  a  light  ashore,  and  two  canoes 
filled  with  people  coming  off  toward 
us.  I  brought  to,  that  they  might 
have  time  to  come  up.  But  it  was  to 
no  purpose  ;  for,  resisting  all  the  signs 
of  friendship  we  could  exhibit,  they 
kept  at  a  distance  of  a  quarter  of  a 
mile,  so  that  we  left  them  and  pur- 
sued our  course  along  the  coast.  At 
one  in  the  morning  of  the  8th,  finding 
the  water  shoal  pretty  fast,  we  dropped 
anchor  in  ten  fathoms,  where  we  lay 
until  daylight,  and  then  resumed  our 
course  along  the  coast,  which  we  found 
to  trend  E.  andE.  half  S.  At  seven  in 
the  evening  we  were  abreast  of  a  point 
lying  in  the  Latitude  of  64°  21',  and  in 
the  Longitude  of  197°  ;  beyond  which 
the  coast  takes  a  more  northerly  direc- 
tion. At  eight  this  point,  which 
obtained  the  name  of  Cape  Darby, 
bore  S.  62°  W.  ;  the  northernmost 
land  in  sight,  N.  32°  E. ;  and  the 
nearest  shore  three  miles  distant.  In 
this  situation  we  anchored  in  thir- 
teen fathoms  water,  over  a  muddy 
bottom. 

Next  morning  at  daybreak  we  weigh- 
ed and  sailed  along  the  coast.  Two 
islands,  as  we  supposed  them  to  be, 
were  at  this  time  seen  ;  the  one  bear- 
ing S.  70°  E.  and  the  other  E.  Soon 
after,  we  found  ourselves  upon  a  coast 
covered  with  wood ;  an  agreeable  sight, 
to  which  of  late  we  had  not  been 
accustomed.  As  we  advanced  to  the 
north,  we  raised  land  in  the  direction 
of  NE.  half  N.,  which  proved  to  be  a 
continuation  of  the  coast  we  were 
upon.  We  also  saw  high  land  over 
the  islands,  seemingly  at  a  good  dis- 
tance beyond  them.  This  was  thought 


to  be  the  continent,  and  the  other 
land  the  Island  of  Alashka.  But  it 
was  already  doubtful  whether  we 
should  find  a  passage  between  them  ; 
for  the  water  shoaled  insensibly  as 
we  advanced  farther  to  the  north.  In 
this  situation,  two  boats  were  sent  to 
sound  before  the  ships  ;  and  I  ordered 
the  Discovery  to  lead,  keeping  nearly 
in  the  mid-channel  between  the  coast 
on  our  larboard  and  the  northernmost 
island  on  our  starboard.  Thus  we 
proceeded  till  three  in  the  afternoon, 
when,  having  passed  the  island,  we 
had  not  more  than  three  fathoms  and 
a  half  of  water ;  and  the  Kesolution 
at  one  time  brought  the  mud  up  from 
the  bottom.  More  water  was  not  to  be 
found  in  any  part  of  the  channel ;  for, 
with  the  ships  and  boats,  we  had  tried 
it  from  side  to  side.  I  therefore 
thought  it  high  time  to  return,  espe- 
cially as  the  wind  was  in  such  a 
quarter  that  we  must  ply  back.  But 
what  I  dreaded  mo^t  was  the  wind 
increasing,  and  raising  the  sea  into 
waves,  so  as  to  put  the  ships  in  dan- 
ger of  striking.  At  this  time  a  head- 
land on  the  west  shore,  which  is 
distinguished  by  the  name  of  Bald 
Head,  bore  N.  by  "W.,  one  league 
distant.  The  coast  beyond  it  extend- 
ed as  far  as  NE.  by  N.,  where  it 
seemed  to  end  in  a  point,  behind 
which  the  coast  of  the  high  land,  seen 
over  the  islands,  stretched  itself ;  and 
some  thought  they  could  trace  where 
it  joined.  On  the  west  side  of  Bald 
Head  the  shore  forms  a  bay,  in  the 
bottom  of  which  is  a  low  beach,  where 
we  saw  a  number  of  huts  or  habitations 
of  the  natives. 

Having  continued  to  ply  back  all 
night,  by  da}rbreak  the  next  morning 
we  had  got  into  six  fathoms  water. 
At  9  o'clock,  being  about  a  league 
from  the  west  shore,  I  took  two  boats 
and  landed,  attended  by  Mr  King,  to 
seek  wood  and  water.  We  landed 
where  the  coast  projects  out  into  a 
bluff  head,  composed  of  perpendicular 
strata  of  a  rock  of  a  dark  blue  colour, 
mixed  with  quartz  and  glimmer. 
There  joins  to  the  beach  a  narrow 
border  of  land,  now  covered  with  long 
grass,  where  we  met  with  some  Angel- 


SEPT.  1778.]  OFF  CAPE 

ica.  Beyond  this  the  ground  rises 
abruptly.  At  the  top  of  this  elevation 
vre  found  a  heath  abounding  with  a 
variety  of  berries  ;  and  farther  on  the 
country  was  level,  and  thinly  covered 
with  small  spruce  trees  and  birch  and 
willows  no  bigger  than  broom  stuff. 
We  observed  tracks  of  deer  and  foxes 
on  the  beach,  on  which  also  lay  a 
great  quantity  of  drift-wood  ;  and 
there  was  no  want  of  fresh  water.  I 
returned  on  board  with  an  intention 
to  bring  the  ships  to  an  anchor  here  ; 
but  the  wind  then  veering  to  NE., 
which  blew  rather  on  this  shore,  I 
stretched  over  to  the  opposite  one  in 
the  expectation  of  finding  wood  there 
also,  and  anchored  at  8  o'clock  in  the 
evening  under  the  south  end  of  the 
northernmost  island.  So  we  then 
supposed  it  to  be  ;  but  next  morning 
we  found  it  to  be  a  peninsula,  united 
to  the  continent  by  a  low  neck  of  land, 
on  each  side  of  which  the  coast  forms 
a  bay.  We  plied  into  the  southern- 
most, and  about  noon  anchored  in 
five  fathoms  water,  over  a  bottom  of 
mud ;  the  point  of  the  peninsula, 
which  obtained  the  name  of  Cape 
Denbigh,  bearing  N.  68°  W.,  three 
miles  distant.  Sereral  people  were 
seen  upon  the  peninsula ;  and  one 
man  came  off  in  a  small  canoe.  I 
gave  him  a  knife  and  a  few  beads, 
with  which  he  seemed  well  pleased. 
Having  made  signs  to  him  to  bring 
us  something  to  eat,  he  immediately 
left  us  and  paddled  toward  the  shore. 
But  meeting  another  man  coming  off, 
who  happened  to  have  two  dried  sal- 
mon, he  got  them  from  him,  and  on 
returning  to  the  ship  would  give 
them  to  nobody  but  me.  Some  of  our 
people  thought  that  he  asked  for  me 
under  the  name  of  "Capitane  ;"  but 
in  this  they  were  probably  mistaken. 
He  knew  who  had  given  him  the  knife 
and  beads,  but  I  do  not  see  how  he 
could  know  that  I  was  the  captain. 
Others  of  the  natives  soon  after  came 
off,  and  exchanged  a  few  dry  fish  for 
such  trifles  as  they  could  get  or  we 
had.  to  give  them.  They  were  most 
desirous  of  knives  ;  and  they  had  no 
dislike  to  tobacco. 

After  dinner  Lieutenant  Gore  was 


DENBIGH. 


291 


sent  to  the  peninsula,  to  see  if  wood 
and  water  were  there  to  be  got,  or 
rather  water,  for  the  whole  beach 
round  the  bay  seemed  to  be  covered 
with  drift-wood.  At  the  same  time  a 
boat  was  sent  from  each  ship  to  sound 
round  the  bay  ;  and  at  three  in  the 
afternoon,  the  wind  freshening  at 
NE.,  we  weighed  in  order  to  work 
farther  in.  But  it  was  soon  found  to 
be  impossible,  on  account  of  the  shoals, 
which  extended  quite  round  the  bay 
to  the  distance  of  two  or  three  miles 
from  the  shore,  as  the  officers  who  had 
been  sent  to  sound  reported.  We 
therefore  kept  standing  off  and  on 
with  the  ships,  waiting  for  Mr  Gore, 
who  returned  about  8  o'clock  with  the 
launch  laden  with  wood.  He  reported 
that  there  was  but  little  fresh  water  ; 
and  that  wood  was  difficult  to  be  got 
at,  by  reason  of  the  boats  grounding 
at  some  distance  from  the  beach.  This 
being  the  case,  I  stood  back  to  the 
other  shore  ;  and  at  8  o'clock  the 
next  morning  sent  all  the  boats  and 
a  party  of  men,  with  an  officer,  to 
get  wood  from  the  place  where  I  had 
landed  two  days  before.  We  con- 
tinued for  a  while  to  stand  on  and  off 
with  the  ships,  but  at  length  came  to 
an  anchor  in  one-fourth  less  than  five 
fathoms,  half-a-league  from  the  coast, 
the  south  point  of  which  bore  S.  26° 
W.,  and  Bald  Head  N.  60°  E.,  nine 
leagues  distant.  Cape  Denbigh  bore  S. 
72°  E.,  twenty-six  miles  distant ;  and 
the  island  under  the  east  shore,  to  the 
southward  of  Cape  Denbigh,  named 
Bessborough  Island,  S.  52°  E.,  fifteen 
leagues  distant. 

As  this  was  a  very  open  road,  and 
consequently  not  a  safe  station,  I  re- 
solved not  to  wait  to  complete  water, 
as  that  would  require  some  time ;  but 
only  to  supply  the  ships  with  wood, 
and  then  to  go  in  search  of  a  more 
convenient  place  for  the  other  article. 
We  took  off  the  drift-wood  that  lay 
upon  the  beach ;  and  as  the  wind  blew 
along  shore  the  boats  could  sail  both 
ways,  which  enabled  us  to  make  great 
despatch.  In  the  afternoon  I  went 
ashore  and  walked  a  little  into  the 
country  ;  which,  where  there  was  no 
wood,  was  covered  with  heath  and 


292 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.          [Toy.  III.  B.  IY.  CH.  Y. 


other  plants,  some  of  which  produce 
berries  in  abundance.  All  the  berries 
were  ripe,  the  hurtle-berries1  too  much 
so  ;  and  hardly  a  single  plant  was  in 
flower.  The  underwood,  such  as  birch, 
willows,  and  alders,  rendered  it  very 
troublesome  walking  among  the  trees, 
which  were  all  spruce,  and  none  of 
them  above  six  or  eight  inches  in  dia- 
meter. But  we  found  some  lying 
upon  the  beach  more  than  twice  this 
size.  All  the  drift-wood  in  these 
northern  parts  was  fir ;  I  saw  not  a 
stick  of  any  other  sort.  Next  day  a 
family  of  the  natives  came  near  to  the 

flace  where  we  were  taking  off  wood, 
know  not  how  many  there  were  at 
first ;  but  I  saw  only  the  husband, 
the  wife,  and  their  child,  and  a  fourth 
person,  who  bore  the  human  shape, 
and  that  was  all ;  for  he  was  the  most 
deformed  cripple  I  had  ever  seen  or 
heard  of.  The  other  man  was  almost 
blind,  and  neither  he  nor  his  wife 
were  such  good-looking  people  as  we 
had  sometimes  seen  amongst  the  na- 
tives of  this  coast.  The  under  lips  of 
both  were  bored  ;  and  they  had  in 
their  possession  some  such  glass  beads 
as  I  had  met  with  before  amongst 
their  neighbours.  But  iron  was  their 
beloved  article.  For  four  knives, 
which  we  had  made  out  of  an  old 
iron  hoop,  I  got  from  them  near 
400  pounds  weight  of  fish,  which 
they  had  caught  on  this  or  the  pre- 
ceding day.  Some  were  trout,  and 
the  rest  were  in  size  and  taste  some- 
what between  a  mullet  and  a  herring. 
I  gave  the  child,  who  was  a  girl,  a  few 
beads  ;  on  which  the  mother  burst 
into  tears,  then  the  father,  then  the 
cripple,  and  at  last,  to  complete  the 
concert,  the  girl  herself;  but  this 
music  continued  not  long.  Before 
night  we  had  got  the  ships  amply 
supplied  with  wood,  and  had  carried 
on  board  about  twelve  tons  of  water 
to  each. 

On  the  14th  a  party  of  men  were 
sent  on  shore  to  cut  brooms,  which 
we  were  in  want  of,  and  the  branches 
of  spruce  trees  for  brewing  beer.  To- 
wards noon  everybody  was  taken  on 

1  Whortle-berries,  bilberries. 


board  ;  for  the  wind  freshening  had 
raised  such  a  surf  on  the  beach  that 
the  boats  could  not  continue  to  land 
without  great  difficulty.  Some  doubts 
being  still  entertained  whether  the 
coast  we  were  now  upon  belonged  to 
an  island  or  the  American  continent, 
and  the  shallowness  of  the  water  put- 
ting it  out  of  our  power  to  determine 
this  with  our  ships,  I  sent  Lieutenant 
King  with  two  boats  under  his  com- 
mand to  make  such  searches  as  might 
leave  no  room  for  a  variety  of  opinions 
on  the  subject.  Next  day  the  ships 
removed  over  to  the  bay  which  is  on 
the  south-east  side  of  Cape  Denbigh, 
where  we  anchored  in  the  afternoon. 
Soon  after,  a  few  of  the  natives  came 
off  in  their  small  canoes,  and  bartered 
some  dried  salmon  for  such  trifles  aa 
our  people  had  to  give  them. 

At  daybreak  on  the  16th,  nine  men, 
each  in  his  canoe,  paid  us  a  visit. 
They  approached  the  ship  with  some 
caution,  and  evidently  came  with  no 
other  view  than  to  gratify  their  curi- 
osity. They  drew  up  abreast  of  each 
other  under  our  stern,  and  gave  us  a 
song  ;  while  one  of  their  number  beat 
upon  a  kind  of  drum,  and  another 
made  a  thousand  antic  motions  with 
his  hands  and  body.  There  was,  how- 
ever, nothing  savage  either  in  the 
song  or  in  the  gestures  that  accom- 
panied it.  None  of  us  could  perceive 
any  difference  between  these  people, 
either  as  to  their  size  or  features,  and 
those  whom  we  had  met  with  on 
every  other  part  of  the  coast,  King 
George's  Sound  excepted.  Their 
clothing,  which  consisted  principally 
of  deer-skins,  was  made  after  the 
same  fashion  ;  and  they  observed  the 
custom  of  boring  their  under  lips,  and 
fixing  ornaments  to  them.  The 
dwellings  of  these  people  were  seated 
close  to  the  beach.  They  consist 
simply  of  a  sloping  roof,  without  any 
side  walls,  composed  of  logs  and 
covered  with  grass  and  earth.  The 
floor  is  also  laid  with  logs  ;  the  en- 
trance is  at  one  end,  the  fireplace  just 
within  it,  and  a  small  hole  is  made 
near  the  door  to  let  out  the  smoke. 

After  breakfast  a  party  of  men  were 
sent  to  the  peninsula  for  brooms  and 


SEPT.  1778.] 

spruce.  At  the  same  time  half  the 
remainder  of  the  people  in  each  ship 
had  leave  to  go  and  pick  berries. 
These  returned  on  board  at  noon, 
when  the  other  half  went  on  the 
same  errand.  The  berries  to  be  got 
here  were  wild  currant-berries,  part- 
ridge-berries, and  heath-berries.  I 
also  went  ashore  myself  and  walked 
over  part  of  the  peninsula.  In  several 
places  there  was  very  good  grass,  and 
I  hardly  saw  a  spot  on  which  some 
vegetable  was  not  growing.  The  low 
land  which  connects  this  peninsula 
with  the  continent  is  full  of  narrow 
creeks,  and  abounds  with  ponds  of 
water,  some  of  which  were  already 
frozen  over.  There  were  a  great  many 
geese  and  bustards,  but  so  shy  that  it 
was  not  possible  to  get  within  mus- 
ket-shot of  them.  We  also  met  with 
some  snipes,  and  on  the  high  ground 
were  partridges  of  two  sorts.  Where 
there  was  any  wood,  mosquitoes 
were  in  plenty.  Some  of  the  officers, 
who  travelled  farther  than  I  did,  met 
with  a  few  of  the  natives  of  both 
sexes,  who  treated  them  with  civility. 
It  appeared  to  me  that  this  peninsula 
must  have  been  an  island  in  remote 
times  ;  for  there  were  marks  of  the  sea 
having  flowed  over  the  isthmus  ;  and 
even  now  it  appeared  to  be  kept  out 
by  a  bank  of  sand,  stones,  and  wood, 
thrown  up  by  the  waves.  By  this 
bank  it  was  evident  that  the  land 
was  here  encroaching  upon  the  sea, 
and  it  was  easy  to  trace  its  gradual 
formation. 

About  seven  in  the  evening  Mr 
King  returned  from  his  expedition, 
and  reported  that  he  proceeded  with 


PRODUCE  OF  THE  COUNTRY.  293 

which  Mr  King  surveyed  the  sound, 
he  could  distinguish  many  extensive 
valleys,  with  rivers  running  through 
them,  well  wooded,  and  bounded  by 
hills  of  a  gentle  ascent  and  moderate 
height.  One  of  these  rivers  to  the 
north-west  appeared  to  be  consider- 
able ;  and  from  its  direction  he  was 
inclined  to  think  that  it  emptied 
itself  into  the  sea  at  the  head  of  the 
bay.  Some  of  his  people,  who  pene- 
trated beyond  this  into  the  country, 
found  the  trees  larger  the  farther  they 
advanced.  In  honour  of  Sir  Fletcher 
Norton,1  Speaker  of  the  House  of 
Commons,  and  Mr  King's  near  rela- 
tion, I  named  this  inlet  Norton 
Sound.  It  extends  to  the  northward 
as  far  as  the  Latitude  of  64°  55'. 
The  bay  in  which  we  were  now  at 
anchor  lies  on  the  south-east  side  of 
it,  and  is  called  by  the  natives  Chack- 
toole.  It  is  but  an  indifferent  station, 
being  exposed  to  the  south  and  south- 
west winds  ;  nor  is  there  a  harbour  in 
all  this  sound.  But  we  were  so  for- 
tunate as  to  have  the  wind  from  the 
north  and  north-east  all  the  time, 
with  remarkably  fine  weather. 

Having  now  fully  satisfied  myself 
that  Mr  Staehlin's  map  must  be 
erroneous,  and,  having  restored  the 
American  continent  to  that  space 
which  he  had  occupied  with  his 
imaginary  island  of  Alashka,  it  wae 
high  time  to  think  of  leaving  these 
northern  regions  and  to  retire  to  some 
place  during  the  winter,  where  I 
might  procure  refreshments  for  my 
people,  and  a  small  supply  of  provi- 
sions. Petropaulowska,  or  the  har- 
bour of  St  Peter  and  St  Paul,  in 


the  boats  about  three  or  four  leagues 
farther  than  the  ships  had  been  able 
to  go  ;  that  he  then  landed  on  the 
west  side  ;  that,  from  the  heights  he 
could  see  the  two  coasts  join,  and  the 
inlet  to  terminate  in  a  small  river  or 
creek,  before  which  were  banks  of 
sand  or  mud,  and  everywhere  shoal 
water.  The  land,  too,  was  low  and 
swampy  for  some  distance  to  the 
northward  ;  then  it  swelled  into  hills ; 
and  the  complete  junction  of  those  on 
each  side  of  the  inlet  was  easily 
traced.  From  the  elevated  spot  on 


Kamtschatka,  did  not  appear  likely 
to  furnish  either  the  one  or  the  other 
for  so  large  a  number  of  men.  I  had, 
besides,  other  reasons  for  not  repair- 
ing thither  at  this  time.  The  first, 
on  which  all  the  others  depended, 
was  the  great  dislike  I  had  to  lie  in- 
active for  six  or  seven  months,  which 
would  have  been  the  necessary  conse- 
quence of  wintering  in  any  of  these 
northern  parts.  No  place  was  so 
conveniently  within  our  reach,  where 


Afterwards  Lord  Grantley. 


294 

we  could  expect  to  have  our  wants 
supplied,  as  the  Sandwich  Islands  ;  to 
them,  therefore,  I  determined  to  pro- 
ceed. But  before  this  could  be  carried 
into  execution,  a  supply  of  water  was 
necessary.  With  this  view  I  resolved 
to  search  the  American  coast  for  a 
harbour,  by  proceeding  along  it  to  the 
southward,  and  thus  endeavour  to 
connect  the  survey  of  this  part  of  it 
with  that  lying  immediately  to  the 
north  of  Cape  Newenham.  If  I  failed 
in  finding  a  harbour  there,  my  plan 
was  then  to  proceed  to  Samganoodha, 
which  was  fixed  upon  as  our  place  of 
rendezvous  in  case  of  separation. 


CHAPTER  YI. 

HAVING  weighed  on  the  17th  in  the 
morning  with  a  light  breeze  at  E., 
we  steered  to  the  southward  and  at- 
tempted to  pass  within  Bessborough 
Island ;  but  though  it  lies  six  or  seven 
miles  from  the  continent,  were  pre- 
vented by  meeting  with  shoal  water. 
As  we  had  but  little  wind  all  the 
day,  it  was  dark  before  we  passed  the 
island,  and  the  night  was  spent  under 
an  easy  sail.  We  resumed  our  course 
at  daybreak  on  the  18th,  along  the 
coast.  At  noon  we  had  no  more  than 
five  fathoms  water.  At  this  time 
the  latitude  was  63°  37'.  Bessbor- 
ough Island  now  bore  N.  42°  E.  ;  the 
southernmost  land  in  sight,  which 
proved  also  to  be  an  island,  S.  66° 
W. ;  the  passage  between  it  and  the 
main  S.  40°  W.  ;  and  the  nearest 
land  about  two  miles  distant.  I  con- 
tinued to  steer  for  this  passage  until 
the  boats,  which  were  ahead,  made 
the  signal  for  having  no  more  than 
three  fathoms  water.  On  this  we 
hauled  without  the  island,  and  made 
the  signal  for  the  Resolution's  boat 
to  keep  between  the  ships  and  the 
shore. 

This  island,  which  obtained  the 
name  of  Stuart's  Island,  lies  in  the 
latitude  of  63°  35',  and  seventeen 
leagues  from  Cape  Denbigh  in  the 
direction  of  S.  27°  W.  It  is  six  or 
seven  leagues  in  circuit.  Some  parts 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.         [YoY.  III.  B.IV.  CH.  VI. 


of  it  are  of  a  middling  height ;  but  in 
general  it  is  low,  with  some  rocks 
lying  off  the  western  part.  The  coast 
of  the  continent  is  for  the  most  part 
low  land,  but  we  saw  high  land  up 
the  country.  It  forms  a  point,  oppo- 
site the  island,  which  was  named 
Cape  Stephens,  and  lies  in  Latitude 
63°  33'  and  in  Longitude  197°  41'. 
Some  drift-wood  was  seen  upon  the 
shores  both  of  the  island  and  of  the 
continent;  but  not  a  tree  was  per- 
ceived growing  upon  either.  One 
might  anchor  upon  occasion  between 
the  north-east  side  of  this  island  and 
the  continent,  in  a  depth  of  five 
fathoms,  sheltered  from  westerly, 
southerly,  and  easterly  winds.  But 
this  station  would  be  wholly  exposed 
to  the  northerly  winds,  the  land  in 
that  direction  being  at  too  great  a 
distance  to  afford  any  security.  Be- 
fore we  reached  Stuart's  Island,  we 
passed  two  small  islands  lying  between 
us  and  the  main ;  and  as  we  ranged 
along  the  coast  several  people  appeared 
upon  the  shore,  and  by  signs  seemed 
to  invite  us  to  approach  them.  As 
soon  as  we  were  without  the  island, 
we  steered  S.  by  W.  for  the  southern- 
most point  of  the  continent  in  sight, 
till  8  o'clock  in  the  evening,  when, 
having  shoaled  the  water  from  six 
fathoms  to  less  than  four,  I  tacked 
and  stood  to  the  northward  into  five 
fathoms,  and  then  spent  the  night 
lying  off  and  on.  At  the  time  we 
tacked,  the  southernmost  point  of 
land,  the  same  which  is  mentioned 
above,  and  was  named  Point  Shallow 
Water,  bore  S.  half  E.  seven  leagues 
distant. 

We  resumed  our  course  to  the 
southward  at  daybreak  next  morning, 
but  shoal  water  obliged  us  to -haul 
more  to  the  westward.  At  length 
we  got  so  far  advanced  upon  the 
bank,  that  we  could  not  hold  a 
NNW.  course,  meeting  sometimes 
with  only  four  fathoms.  The  wind 
blowing  fresh  at  ENE.,  it  was  high 
time  to  look  for  deep  water,  and  to 
quit  a  coast  upon  which  we  could  no 
longer  navigate  with  any  degree  of 
safety.  I  therefore  hauled  the  wind 
to  the  northward,  and  gradually  deep- 


SEPT.  1773.]  SHOALS  ON  THE 
ened  the  water  to  eight  fathoms.  At 
the  time  we  hauled  the  wind  we  were 
at  least  twelve  leagues  from  the  con- 
tinent and  nine  to  the  westward  of 
Stuart's  Island.  No  land  was  seen 
to  the  southward  of  Point  Shallow 
Water,  which  I  judge  to  lie  in  the 
Latitude  of  63°;  so  that  between  this 
latitude  and  Shoal  Ness,  in  Latitude 
60°,  the  coast  is  entirely  unexplored. 
Probably  it  is  accessible  only  to  boats 
or  very  small  vessels,  or  at  least,  if 
there  be  channels  for  larger  vessels  it 
would  require  some  time  to  find 
them ;  and  I  am  of  opinion  that  they 
must  be  looked  for  near  the  coast. 
Prom  the  mast-head,  the  sea  within 
us  appeared  to  be  chequered  with 
shoals ;  the  water  was  very  much  dis- 
coloured and  muddy,  and  consider- 
ably fresher  than  at  any  of  the  places 
where  we  had  lately  anchored.  From 
this  I  inferred  that  a  considerable 
river  runs  into  the  sea  in  this  un- 
known part.1 

As  soon  as  we  got  into  eight 
fathoms  water  I  steered  to  the  west- 
ward, and  afterwards  more  southerly, 
for  the  land  discovered  on  the  5th, 
which  at  noon  the  next  day  bore 
SW.  by  "W.,  ten  or  eleven  leagues 
distant.  At  this  time  we  had  a  fresh 
gale  at  N.,  with  showers  of  hail  and 
snow  at  intervals,  and  a  pretty  high 
sea ;  so  that  we  got  clear  of  the  shoals 
but  just  in  time.  As  I  now  found 
that  the  land  before  us  lay  too  far  to 
the  westward  to  be  Anderson's  Island, 
I  named  it  Clerke's  Island.  It  lies 
in  the  Latitude,of  63°  15',  and  in  the 
Longitude  of  190°  30'.  It  seemed  to 
be  a  pretty  large  island,  in  which  are 
four  or  more  hills,  all  connected  by 
low  ground ;  so  that  at  a  distance  it 
looks  like  a  group  of  islands.  Near 
its  east  part  lies  a  small  island  remark- 
able by  having  upon  it  three  elevated 
rocks.  Not  only  the  greater  island 


AMERICAN  COAST. 


295 


1  In  modern  maps  a  large  river 
named  the  Kwichpak,  taking  its  rise 
far  inland  to  the  east  and  south-east, 
and  debouching  by  several  mouths 
into  the  sea  north  of  Cape  Romanzov, 
is  marked  just  where  Cook  conjectured 
the  existence  of  such  a  stream. 


but  this  small  spot  was  inhabited. 
We  got  up  to  the  northern  point  of 
Clerke's  Island  about  6  o'clock,  and 
having  ranged  along  its  coast  till 
dark,  brought  to  during  the  night. 
At  daybreak  next  morning  we  stood 
in  again  for  the  coast,  and  continued 
to  range  along  it  in  search  of  a  har- 
bour till  noon,  when,  seeing  no  like- 
lihood of  succeeding,  I  left  it  and 
steered  SSW.  for  the  land  which  we 
had  discovered  on  the  29th  of  July ; 
having  a  fresh  gale  at  N.  with  showers 
of  sleet  and  snow.  I  remarked  that 
as  soon  as  we  opened  the  channel 
which  separates  the  two  continents, 
cloudy  weather  with  snow-showers 
immediately  commenced ;  whereas  all 
the  time  that  we  were  in  Norton 
Sound  we  had,  with  the  same  wind, 
clear  weather.  Might  not  this  be 
occasioned  by  the  mountains  to  the 
north  of  that  place  attracting  the 
vapours  and  hindering  them  to  pro- 
ceed any  farther  ? 

At  daybreak  in  the  morning  of  the 
23d  the  land  above  mentioned  ap- 
peared in  sight,  bearing  SW.,  six  or 
seven  leagues  distant.  From  this 
point  of  view  it  resembled  a  group  of 
islands ;  but  it  proved  to  be  but  one, 
of  thirty  miles  in  extent  in  the  direc- 
tion of  NW.  and  SE.,  the  SE.  end 
being  Cape  Upright,  already  taken 
notice  of.  The  island  is  but  narrow, 
especially  at  the  low  necks  of  land 
that  connect  the  hills.  I  afterward 
found  that  it  was  wholly  unknown 
to  the  Russians ;  and  therefore,  con- 
sidering it  as  a  discovery  of  our  own, 
I  named  it  Gore's  Island.  It  ap- 
peared to  be  barren,  and  without  in- 
habitants ;  at  least  we  saw  none.  Nor 
did  we  see  so  many  birds  about  it  as 
when  we  first  discovered  it.  But  we 
saw  some  sea-otters,  an  animal  which 
we  had  not  met  with  to  the  north  oi 
this  latitude.  Four  leagues  from 
Cape  Upright,  in  the  direction  of  S. 
72*  W.,  lies  a  small  island  whose 
elevated  summit  terminates  in  several 
pinnacle  rocks.  On  this  account  it 
was  named  Pinnacle  Island.  At  two 
in  the  afternoon,  after  passing  Cape 
Upright,  I  steered  SE.  by  S.  for 
Samganoodha,  with  a  gentle  breeze 


296 


COOK'S  VOYAGES. 


at  NNW.,  being  resolved  to  spend 
no  more  time  in  searching  for  a  har- 
bour amongst  islands  which  I  now 
began  to  suspect  had  no  existence,  at 
least  not  in  the  latitude  and  longi- 
tude where  modern  map-makers  have 
thought  proper  to  place  them.  In 
the  evening  of  the  24th  the  wind 
veered  to  SW.  and  S.,  and  increased 
to  a  fresh  gale. 

"We  continued  to  stretch  to  the  east- 
ward till  8  o'clock  in  the  morning  of 
the  25th,  when,  in  the  Latitude  of  58° 
32',  and  in  the  Longitude  of  1913 10', 
we  tacked  and  stood  to  the  west ;  and 
soon  after,  the  gale  increasing,  we  were 
reduced  to  two  courses  and  close-reefed 
maintop-sails.  Not  long  after,  the 
Resolution  sprang  a  leak  under  the 
starboard  buttock,  which  filled  the 
spirit-room  with  water  before  it  was 
discovered ;  and  it  was  so  consider- 
able as  to  keep  one  pump  constantly 
employed.  We  durst  not  put  the 
ship  upon  the  other  tack  for  fear  of 
getting  upon  the  shoals  that  lie  to 
the  NW.  of  Cape  Newenham ;  but 
continued  standing  to  the  west  till 
six  in  the  evening  of  the  26th,  when 
we  wore  and  stood  to  the  eastward, 
and  then  the  leak  no  longer  troubled 
us.  This  proved  that  it  was  above 
the  water  line,  which  was  no  small 
itisfaction.  The  gale  was  now  over, 


[VoY.tll.B.tV.CH.Vl. 
tobacco  that  was  in  the  ship  had  been 
distributed  among  them ;  and  the 
quantity  was  not  half  sufficient  to 
answer  their  demands.  Notwith- 
standing this,  so  improvident  a  crea- 
ture is  an  English  sailor,  that  they 
were  as  profuse  in  making  their  bar- 
gains as  if  we  had  now  arrived  at  a 
port  in  Virginia ;  by  which  means,  in 
less  than  eight-and-forty  hours  the 
value  of  this  article  of  barter  was 
lowered  above  1000  per  cent.  At  1 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the  3d  we 
anchored  in  Samganoodha  harbour  ; 
and  the  next  morning  the  carpenters  of 
both  ships  were  set  to  work  to  rip  off 
the  sheathing  of  and  under  the  wale 
on  the  starboard  side  abaft.  Many  of 
the  seams  were  found  quite  open,  so 
that  it  was  no  wonder  that  so  much 
water  had  found  its  way  into  the  ship. 
While  we  lay  here  we  cleared  the  fish 
and  spirit  rooms  and  the  after-hold, 
disposing  things  in  such  a  manner, 
that  in  case  we  should  happen  to  have 
any  more  leaks  of  the  same  nature 
the  water  might  find  it  way  to  the 
pumps.  And  besides  this  work,  and 
completing  our  water,  we  cleared  the 
forehold  to  the  very  bottom,  and  took 
in  a  quantity  of  ballast. 

The  vegetables  which  we  had  met 
with  when  we  were  here  before  were 
now  mostly  in  a  state  of  decay,  so  that 


•WMMMWVWVBM  JLJ-LO    ^IHV>     VTCLO     J.J.V/  IT      VYV&J      I      1J.U  »»     i-lA^O  I/A  J     -Ll-l    «•   O  UC*  U  V    V/A    VtU^ClJ'  j     OV/     iyllUU 

but  the  wind  remained  at  S.  and  SW.  '  we  were  but  little  benefited  by  the 
for  some  days  longer. 

At  length,  on  the  2d  of  October  at 
daybreak,  we  saw  the  island  of  Oona- 
lashka  bearing  SE.  But  as  this  was 
to  us  a  new  point  of  view,  and  the 
land  was  obscured  by  a  thick  haze, 
we  were  not  sure  of  our  situation  till 
noon,  when  the  observed  latitude  de- 
termined it.^  As  all  the  harbours  were 
alike  to  me  provided  they  were  equally 
safe  and  convenient,  I  hauled  into  a 
bay  that  lies  ten  miles  to  the  west- 
ward of  Samganoodha,  known  by  the 
name  of  Egoochshac ;  but  we  found 
very  deep  water,  so  that  we  were  glad 
to  get  out  again.  The  natives,  many 
of  whom  lived  here,  visited  us  at  dif- 
ferent times,  bringing  with  them  dried 
salmon  and  other  fish,  which  they  ex- 
changed with  the  seamen  for  tobacco. 
But  a  few  days  before,  every  ounce  of 


.ere 

bund  ashore.  In  order  to  avail  our- 
selves as  much  as  possible  of  this  useful 
refreshment,  one-third  of  the  people  by 
turns  had  leave  to  go  and  pick  them. 
Considerable  quantities  of  them  were 
also  procured  from  the  natives.  If 
there  were  any  seeds  of  the  scurvy  in 
either  ship,  these  berries,  and  the  use 
of  spruce  beer,  which  [the  crews]  had 
to  drink  every  other  day,  effectually 
eradicated  them.  We  also  got  plenty 
of  fish,  at  first  mostly  salmon,  both 
fresh  and  dried,  which  the  natives 
brought  us.  Some  of  the  fresh  salmon 
was  in  high  perfection ;  but  there  was 
one  sort,  which  we  called  hook-nosed, 
from  the  figure  of  its  head,  that  was 
but  indifferent.  We  drew  the  seine 
several  times  at  the  head  of  the  bay, 
and  caught  a  good  many  salmon-trout. 


OCT.  1778.]    INTERCOURSE  WITH 

and  once  a  halibut  that  weighed  254 
pounds.  The  fishery  failing,  we  had 
recourse  to  hooks  and  lines.  A  boat  was 
sent  out  every  morning,  and  seldom 
returned  without  eight  or  ten  halibut, 
which  was  more  than  sufficient  to  serve 
all  our  people.  The  halibut  were  ex- 
cellent, and  there  were  few  who  did  not 
prefer  them  to  salmon.  Thus  we  not 
only  procured  a  supply  of  fish  for 
present  consumption,  but  had  some 
to  carry  with  us  to  sea.  This  enabled 
us  to  make  a  considerable  saving  of 
our  provisions,  which  was  an  object 
of  no  small  importance. 

On  the  8th  I  received  by  the  hands 
of  an  Oonalashka  man,  named  Derra- 
moushk,  a  very  singular  present,  con- 
sidering the  place.  It  was  a  rye  loaf, 
or  rather  a  pie  made  in  the  form  of 
a  loaf,  for  it  enclosed  some  salmon 
highly  seasoned  with  pepper.  This 
man  had  the  like  present  for  Captain 
Clerke,  and  a  note  for  each  of  us 
written  in  a  character  which  none  of 
us  could  read.  It  was  natural  to  sup- 
pose that  this  present  was  from  some 
Russians  now  in  our  neighbourhood  ; 
and  therefore  we  sent  by  the  same 
hand,  to  these  our  unknown  friends, 
a  few  bottles  of  rum,  wine,  and  porter, 
which  we  thought  would  be  as  accept- 
able as  anything  we  had  beside  ;  and 
we  soon  knew  that  in  this  we  had  not 
been  mistaken.  I  also  sent,  along 
with  Derramoushk,  Corporal  Lediard 
of  the  marines,  an  intelligent  man,  in 
order  to  gam  some  further  informa- 
tion, with  orders  that  if  he  met  with 
any  Russians  he  should  endeavour  to 
make  them  understand  that  we  were 
English,  the  friends  and  allies  of  their 
nation. 

On  the  10th,  Lediard  returned  with 
three  Russian  seamen  or  furriers,  who 
with  some  others  resided  at  Egooch- 
shac,  where  they  had  a  dwelling- 
house,  some  store-houses,  and  a  sloop 
of  about  thirty  tons  burthen.  One 
of  these  men  was  either  master  or 
mate  of  this  vessel ;  another  of  them 
wrote  a  very  good  hand  and  under- 
stood figures ;  and  they  were  all  three 
well-behaved,  intelligent  men,  and 
very  ready  to  give  me  all  the  informa- 
tion I  could  desire.  But  for  want 


NATIVES  OF  OONALASHKA.    297 

of  an  interpreter  we  had  some  diffi- 
culty to  understand  each  other.  They 
appeared  to  have  a  thorough  know- 
ledge of  the  attempts  that  bad  been 
made  by  their  countrymen  to  navigate 
the  Frozen  Ocean,  and  of  the  dis- 
coveries which  had  been  made  from 
Kamtschatka  by  Behring,  Tscherikoff, 
and  Spanberg.  But  they  seemed  to 
know  no  more  of  Lieutenant  Syndo, 
or  Synd,  than  his  name.  Nor  had 
they  the  least  idea  what  part  of  the 
world  Mr  Stsehlin's  map  referred  to 
when  it  was  laid  before  them.  When 
I  pointed  out  Kamtschatka  and  some 
other  known  places  upon  that  map, 
they  asked  whether  I  had  seen  the 
islands  there  laid  down  ;  and  on  my 
answering  in  the  negative,  one  of  them 
put  his  finger  upon  a  part  of  this  map 
where  a  number  of  islands  was  repre- 
sented, and  said  that  he  had  cruised 
there  for  land  but  never  could  find 
any.  I  then  laid  before  them  my 
own  chart,  and  found  that  they  were 
strangers  to  every  part  of  the  Ameri- 
can coast  except  what  lies  opposite 
this  island.  One  of  these  men  said 
that  he  had  been  with  Behring  in  his 
American  voyage,  but  he  must  then 
have  been  very  young,  for  he  had  not 
now,  at  the  distance  of  thirty-seven 
years,  the  appearance  of  being  aged. 
Never  was  there  greater  respect  paid 
to  the  memory  of  any  distinguished 
person  than  by  these  men  to  that  of 
Behring.  The  trade  in  which  they 
are  engaged  is  very  beneficial ;  and 
its  being  undertaken  and  extended  to 
the  eastward  of  Kamtschatka  was  the 
immediate  consequence  of  the  second 
voyage  of  that  able  navigator,  whose 
misfortunes  proved  to  be  the  source 
of  much  private  advantage  to  indi- 
viduals and  of  public  utility  to  the 
Russian  nation.  And  yet,  if  his  dis- 
tresses had  not  accidentally  carried 
him  to  die  in  the  island  which  bears 
his  name,  and  whence  the  miserable 
remnant  of  his  ship's  crew  brought 
back  sufficient  specimens  of  its  valu- 
able furs,  probably  the  Russians  never 
would  have  undertaken  any  future 
voyages  which  could  lead  them  to 
make  discoveries  in  the  sea  towards 
the  coast  of  America.  Indeed,  after 


298 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.       [Vor.  III.  B.  IV.  CH.  VI. 


his  time  Government  seems  to  have 
paid  less  attention  to  this  ;  and  we 
owe  what  discoveries  have  been  since 
made  principally  to  the  enterprising 
spirit  of  private  traders,  encouraged, 
however,  by  the  superintending  care 
of  the  Court  of  Petersburg.  The  three 
Eussians  having  remained  with  me  all 
night,  visited  Captain  Clerke  next 
morning,  and  then  left  us,  very  well 
satisfied  with  the  reception  they  had 
met  with,  promising  to  return  in  a 
few  days  and  to  bring  with  them  a 
chart  of  the  islands  lying  between 
Oonalashka  and  Kamtschatka. 

On  the  15th,  in  the  evening,  while 
Mr  Webber  and  I  were  at  a  village  at 
a  small  distance  from  Samganoodha, 
a  Russian  landed  there  who,  I  found, 
was  the  principal  person  amongst  his 
countrymen  in  this  and  the  neigh- 
bouring islands.  His  name  was  Era- 
shn  Gregorioff  Sin  Ismyloff.  He 
arrived  in  a  canoe  carrying  three  per- 
sons, attended  by  twenty  or  thirty 
other  canoes,  each  conducted  by  one 
man.  I  took  notice  that  the  first 
thing  they  did  after  landing  was  to 
make  a  small  tent  for  Ismyloff  of 
materials  which  they  brought  with 
them,  and  then  they  made  others  for 
themselves  of  their  canoes  and  paddles, 
which  they  covered  with  grass,  so 
that  the  people  of  the  village  were  at 
no  trouble  to  find  them  lodging.  Is- 
myloff, having  invited  us  into  his 
tent,  set  before  us  some  dried  salmon 
and  berries,  which,  I  was  satisfied,  was 
the  best  cheer  he  had.  He  appeared 
to  be  a  sensible,  intelligent  man  ;  and 
I  felt  no  small  mortification  in  not 
being  able  to  converse  with  him 
unless  by  signs,  assisted  by  figures 
and  other  characters,  which,  however, 
were  a  very  great  help.  I  desired  to 
see  him  on  board  the  next  day,  and 
accordingly  he  came,  with  all  his  at- 
tendants. Indeed  he  had  moved  into 
our  neighbourhood  for  the  express 
purpose  of  waiting  upon  us.  I  was 
in  hopes  to  have  had  by  him  the  chart 
which  his  three  countrymen  had  pro- 
mised, but  I  was  disappointed.  How- 
ever, he  assured  me  I  should  have  it, 
and  ho  kept  his  word.  I  found  that 
he  was  very  well  acquainted  with  the 


geography  of  these  parts,  and  with 
all  the  discoveries  that  had  been 
made  in  them  by  the  Russians.  On 
seeing  the  modern  maps,  he  at  once 
pointed  out  their  errors.  He  told 
me  he  had  accompanied  Lieutenant 
Syndo,  or  Synd,  as  he  called  him, 
in  his  expedition  to  the  north ; 
and,  according  to  his  account,  they 
did  not  proceed  farther  than  the 
Tschukotskoi  Nos,  or  rather  than  the 
Bay  of  St  Laurence,  for  he  pointed 
on  our  chart  to  the  very  place  where 
I  landed.  From  thence,  he  said, 
they  went  to  an  island  in  Latitude 
63°,  upon  which  they  did  not  land, 
nor  could  he  tell  me  its  name ;  but  I 
should  guess  it  to  be  the  same  to 
which  I  gave  the  name  of  Clerke's 
Island.  To  what  place  Synd  went 
after  that,  or  in  what  manner  he  spent 
the  two  years  during  which,  as  Ismy- 
loff said,  his  researches  lasted,  he 
either  could  not,  or  would  not,  inform 
us.  Perhaps  he  did  not  comprehend 
our  inquiries  about  this ;  and  yet  in 
almost  every  other  thing  we  could 
make  him  understand  us.  This  created 
a  suspicion  that  he  had  not  really 
been  in  that  expedition,  notwithstand- 
ing his  assertion. 

Both  Ismyloff  and  the  others  af- 
firmed that  they  knew  nothing  of  the 
continent  of  America  to  the  north- 
ward, and  that  neither  Lieutenant 
Synd  nor  any  other  Russian  had  ever 
seen  it  of  late.  They  call  it  by  the 
same  name  which  Mr  Stsehlin  gives 
to  his  great  island,  that  is,  Alashka. 
Stachtan  Nitada,  as  it  is  called  in  the 
modern  maps,  is  a  name  quite  un- 
known to  these  people,  natives  of  the 
islands  as  well  as  Russians ;  but  both 
of  them  know  it  by  the  name  of 
America.  From  what  we  could  gather 
from  Ismyloff  and  his  countrymen, 
the  Russians  have  made  several  at- 
tempts to  get  a  footing  upon  that  part 
of  this  continent  that  lies  contiguous 
to  Oonalashka  and  the  adjoining 
islands,  but  have  always  been  repulsed 
by  the  natives,  whom  they  describe 
as  a  very  treacherous  people.  They 
mentioned  two  or  three  captains,  or 
chief  men,  who  had  been  murdered 
by  them  ;  and  some  of  the  Russians 


OCT.  1778.]         CHARTS  OF  RUSSIAN  DISCOVERIES. 


showed  us  wounds  which  they  said 
they  had  received  there.  Some  other 
information  which  we  got  from  Ismy- 
loff  is  worth  recording,  whether  true 
or  false.  He  told  us  that  in  the  year 
1773  an  expedition  had  been  made 
into  the  Frozen  Sea  in  sledges  over 
the  ice  to  three  large  islands  that  lie 
opposite  the  mouth  of  the  River  Koli- 
ma.  We  were  in  some  doubt  whether 
he  did  not  mean  the  same  expedition 
of  which  Muller  gives  an  account ; 
and  yet  he  wrote  down  the  year  and 
marked  the  islands  on  the  chart.  But 
a  voyage  which  he  himself  had  per- 
formed engaged  our  attention  more 
than  any  other.  He  said  that  on  the 
12th  of  May  1771  he  sailed  from  Bol- 
scheretzk,1  in  a  Russian  vessel,  to  one 
of  the  Kurile  Islands,  named  Maree- 
kan,  in  the  Latitude  of  47°,  where 
there  is  a  harbour  and  a  Russian 
settlement.  From  this  island  he  pro- 
ceeded to  Japan,  where  he  seems  to 
have  made  but  a  short  stay.  For 
when  the  Japanese  came  to  know  that 
he  and  his  companions  were  Chris- 
tians, they  made  signs  for  them  to  be 
gone,  but  did  not,  so  far  as  we  could 
understand  him,  offer  any  insult  or 
force.  From  Japan  he  got  to  Canton, 
and  thence  to  France  in  a  French 
ship.  From  France  he  travelled  to 
St  Petersburg,  and  was  afterwards 
sent  out  again  to  Kamtschatka.  What 
became  of  the  vessel  in  which  he  first 
embarked,  we  could  not  learn,  nor 
what  was  the  principal  object  of  the 
voyage.  His  not  being  able  to  speak 
one  word  of  French  made  this  story  a 
little  suspicious.  He  did  not  even 
know  the  name  of  any  one  of  the  most 
common  things  that  must  have  been 
in  use  every  day  while  he  was  on 
board  the  ship  and  in  France.  And 
yet  he  seemed  clear  as  to  the  times  of 
his  arriving  at  the  different  places, 
and  of  his  leaving  them,  which  he 
put  down  in  writing. 

The  next  morning  he  would  fain 
have  made  me  a  present  of  a  sea- otter 
skin,  which,  he  said,  was  worth  eighty 

1  On  the  south-west  coast  of  Kaint- 
schatka,  just  across  the  peninsula  from 
Petropaulovski  on  the  south-east  side. 


299 

roubles  at  Kamtschatka.  However, 
I  thought  proper  to  decline  it ;  but  I 
accepted  of  some  dried  fish  and  several 
baskets  of  the  lily,  or  "faraune" 
root.  In  the  afternoon  Mr  Ismyloff, 
after  dining  with  Captain  Clerke,  left 
us  with  all  his  retinue,  promising  to 
return  in  a  few  days.  Accordingly 
on  the  19th  he  made  us  another  visit, 
and  brought  with  him  the  charts  be- 
fore mentioned,  which  he  allowed  me 
to  copy,  and  the  contents  of  which 
furnish  matter  for  the  following  ob- 
servations. 2  There  were  two  of  them, 
both  manuscripts,  and  bearing  every 
mark  of  authenticity.  The  first  com- 
prehended the  Penshinskian  Sea,3  the 
coast  of  Tartary  as  low  as  the  Latitude 
of  41°,  the  Kurile  Islands,  and  the 
peninsula  of  Kamtschatka.  Since 
this  map  had  been  made,  Wawseelee 
Irkeechoff,  Captain  of  the  Fleet,  ex- 
plored in  1758  the  coast  of  Tartary, 
from  Okotsk  and  the  River  Amoor  to 
Japan,  or  41°  of  Latitude.  Mr  Ismy- 
loff also  informed  us  that  great  part 
of  the  sea-coast  of  the  peninsula  of 
Kamtschatka  had  been  corrected  by 
himself,  and  described  the  instrument 
he  made  use  of,  which  must  have 
been  a  theodolite.  He  also  informed 
iis  that  there  were  only  two  harbours 
fit  for  shipping  on  all  the  east  coast 
of  Kamtschatka,  viz.,  the  Bay  of 
Awatska,  and  the  River  Olutora,  in 
the  bottom  of  the  gulf  of  the  same 
name ;  that  there  was  not  a  single 
harbour  upon  its  west  coast ;  and 
that  Yamsk  was  the  only  one  on  all 
the  west  side  of  the  Penshinskian 
Sea,  except  Okotsk,  till  we  come  to 
the  River  Amoor.  The  Kurile  Islands 
afford  only  one  harbour,  and  that,  is 
on  the  north-east  side  of  Mareekan,  in 
the  Latitude  of  474°,  where,  as  I  have 
before  observed,  the  Russians  have  a 
settlement.  The  second  chart  was  to 
me  the  most  interesting,  for  it  com- 
prehended all  the  discoveries  made  by 
the  Russians  to  the  eastward  of  Kamt- 


2  Considerably  abridged,  as  now  of 
comparatively  slight  value,  having 
long  ago  been  superseded  by  further 
research  in  those  regions, 

8  The  Sea  of  Okotsk. 


SCO 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.       [VoY.  III.  B.  IV.  CH.  VI. 


schatka  towards  America,  which,  if 
we  exclude  the  voyage  of  Behring  and 
Tscherikoff,  will  amount  to  little  or 
nothing.  .  .  . 

It  appeared  by  the  chart,  as  well  as 
by  the  testimony  of  Ismyloff  and  the 
other  Kussians,  that  this x  is  as  far  as 
their  countrymen  have  made  any  dis- 
coveries, or  have  extended  themselves, 
since  Behring's  time.  They  all  said 
that  no  Russians  had  settled  themselves 
so  far  to  the  east  as  the  place  where 
the  natives  gave  the  note  to  Captain 
Clerke  ;  which  Mr  Ismyloff,  to  whom 
I  delivered  it,  on  perusing  it  said  had 
been  written  at  Oomanak.  Itwas,  how- 
ever, from  him  that  we  got  the  name 
of  Kodiak,2  the  largest  of  Schuinagin's 
Islands  ;  for  it  had  no  name  upon  the 
chart  produced  by  him.  The  names 
of  all  the  other  islands  were  taken 
from  it,  and  we  wrote  them  down  as 
pronounced  by  him.  He  said  they 
were  all  such  as  the  natives  them- 
selves called  their  islands  by  ;  but, 
if  so,  some  of  the  names  seem  to  have 
been  strangely  altered.  It  is  worth 
observing,  that  Ho  names  were  put  to 
the  islands  which  Ismyloff  told  us  were 
to  be  struck  out  of  the  chart ;  and  I 
considered  this  as  some  confirmation 
that  they  were  not  in  existence.  I 
have  already  observed  that  the  Ameri- 
can continent  is  here  called  by  the 
Russians,  as  well  as  by  the  islanders, 
Alashka  ;  which  name,  though  it  pro- 
perly belong  only  to  the  country  ad- 
joining to  Ooneemak,  is  used  by  them 
when  speaking  of  the  American  con- 
tinent in  general,  which  they  know 
perfectly  well  to  be  a  great  land.  This 
is  all  the  information  I  got  from  these 
people  relating  to  the  geography  of 

1  The  Halibut  Isles,  and  the  Island 
of    Ooneemak,    forming — the    latter 
especially— a  westward  continuation 
of  the  peninsula   of  Alashka  ;    from 
which  it  is  divided  by  a  narrow  and 
shallow    channel,    impracticable    for 
ships. 

2  A  Russian  ship  had  been  at  Kodi- 
ack,   in  1776  ;  it  lies  south  of  the 
middle  of  the  Alashkan  peninsula, 
some   distance    westward    from    the 
entrance  to  Cook's  inlet. 


this  part  of  the  world ;  and  I  have 
reason  to  believe  that  this  was  all  the 
information  they  were  able  to  give. 
For  they  assured  me  over  and  over 
again  that  they  knew  of  no  other 
islands  besides  those  which  were  laid 
down  upon  this  chart;3  and  that  no 
Russian  had  ever  seen  any  part  of  the 
continent  of  America  to  the  north- 
ward, except  that  which  lies  opposite 
the  country  of  the  Tschutskis. 

Mr  Ismyloff  remained  with  us  till 
the  21st  in  the  evening,  when  he  took 
his  final  leave.  To  his  care  I  entrusted 
a  letter  to  the  Lords  Commissioners 
of  the  Admiralty,  in  which  was  en- 
closed a  chart  of  all  the  northern 
coasts  I  had  visited.  He  said  there 
would  be  an  opportunity  of  sending 
it  to  Kamtschatka  or  Okotsk  the  en- 
suing spring ;  and  that  it  would  be 
at  St  Petersburg  the  following  winter. 
He  gave  me  a  letter  to  Major  Behm, 
Governor  of  Kamtschatka,  who  resides 
at  Bolscheretsk  ;  and  another  to  the 
commandingofficeratPetropaulowska. 
Mr  Ismyloff  seemed  to  have  abilities 
that  might  entitle  him  to  a  higher 
station  in  life  than  that  in  which  we 
found  him.  He  was  tolerably  well 
versed  in  astronomy  and  in  the  most 
useful  branches  of  the  mathem(atics. 
I  made  him  a  present  of  a  Hadley's 
octant ;  and  though  probably  it  was 
the  first  he  had  ever  seen,  he  made 
himself  acquainted  in  a  very  short 
time  with  most  of  the  uses  to  which 
that  instrument  can  be  applied. 

In  the  morning  of  the  22d  we  made 
an  attempt  to  get  to  sea,  with  the 
wind  at  SE.,  which  miscarried.  The 
following  afternoon  we  were  visited 
by  one  Jacob  Ivanovitch  Soposnicoff, 
a  Russian  who  commanded  a  boat  or 
small  vessel  at  Oomanak.  This  man 
had  a  great  share  of  modesty,  and 
would  drink  no  strong  liquor,  of  which 
the  rest  of  his  countrymen  whom  we 
had  met  with  here  were  immoderately 
fond.  He  seemed  to  know  more 

3  They  were  Behring's  Island,  Cop- 
per Island,  and  the  Aleutian  chain, 
as  far  as  the  channel  between  Oouee- 
mak  and  the  peninsula  of  Alashka  on 
the  American  mainland. 


Cor.  i77S.] 


THE  RUSSIAN  SETTLEMENTS. 


301 


accurately  what  supplies  could  be  got 
at  the  harbour  of  Pet.ropaulowska, 
and  the  price  of  the  different  articles, 
than  Mr  Ismyloff.  But,  by  all  ac- 
counts, everything  we  should  want  at 
that  place  was  very  scarce  and  bore  a 
high  price.  Flour,  for  instance,  was 
from  three  to  five  roubles  the  pood  j1 
and  deer  from  three  to  five  roubles 
each.  This  man  told  us  that  he  was 
to  be  at  Petropaulowska  in  May  next ; 
and,  as  I  understood,  was  to  have  the 
charge  of  my  letter.  He  seemed  to  be 
exceedingly  desirous  of  having  some 
token  from  me  to  carry  to  Major  Behm; 
and  to  gratify  him  I  sent  a  small  spy- 
ing-glass. 

After  we  became  acquainted  with 
these  Russians,  some  of  our  gentlemen 
at  different  times  visited  their  settle- 
ment on  the  island ;  where  they  always 
met  with  a  hearty  welcome.  This 
settlement  consisted  of  a  dwelling- 
house  and  two  store-houses.  And 
besides  the  Russians  there  was  a  num- 
ber of  the  Kamtschadales  and  of  the 
natives,  as  servants  or  slaves  to  the 
former.  Some  others  of  the  natives, 
who  seemed  independent  of  the  Rus- 
sians, lived  at  the  same  place.  Such 
of  them  as  belonged  to  the  Russians 
were  all  males ;  and  they  are  taken, 
or  perhaps  purchased,  from  their  par- 
ents when  young.  There  were  at  this 
time  about  twenty  of  these,  who  could 
be  looked  upon  in  no  other  light  than 
as  children.  They  all  live  in  the  same 
house,  the  Russians  at  the  upper  end, 
the  Kamtschadales  in  the  middle,  and 
the  natives  at  the  lower  end  ;  where 
is  fixed  a  large  boiler  for  preparing 
their  food,  which  consists  chiefly  of 
what  the  sea  produces,  with  the  addi- 
tion of  wild  roots  and  berries.  There 
is  little  difference  between  the  first 
and  last  table  besides  what  is  produced 
by  cookery,  in  which  the  Russians  have 
the  art  to  make  indifferent  things 
palatable.  I  have  eaten  whale's  flesh 
of  their  dressing  which  I  thought  very 
good  ;  and  they  made  a  kind  of  pan- 
pudding  of  salmon  roe,  beaten  up  fine 
and  fried,  that  is  no  bad  succedaneum 
for  bread.  They  may,  now  and  then, 


1  Thirty -six  pounds. 


taste  real  bread,  or  have  a  dish  in 
which  flour  is  an  ingredient ;  but  this 
can  only  be  an  occasional  luxury.  If 
we  except  the  juice  of  berries,  which 
they  sip  at  their  meals,  they  have  no 
other  liquor  besides  pure  water ;  and 
it  seems  to  be  very  happy  for  them 
that  they  have  nothing  stronger.  As 
the  island  supplies  them  with  food,  so 
it  does  in  a  great  measure  with  cloth- 
ing. This  consists  chiefly  of  skins, 
and  is  perhaps  the  best  they  could 
have.  The  upper  garment  is  made 
like  our  waggoner's  frock,  and  reaches 
as  low  as  the  knee.  Besides  this  they 
wear  a  waistcoat  or  two,  a  pair  of 
breeches,  a  fur  cap,  and  a  pair  of  boots, 
the  soles  and  upper  leathers  of  which 
are  of  Russian  leather,  but  the  legs  are 
made  of  some  kind  of  strong  gut. 
Their  two  chiefs,  Ismyloff  and  Ivano- 
vitch,  wrore  each  a  calico  frock ;  and 
they,  as  well  as  some  others,  had 
skirts,  which  were  of  silk.  These, 
perhaps,  were  the  only  part  of  their 
dress  not  made  amongst  themselves. 

There  are  Russians  settled  upon  all 
the  principal  islands  between  Oon- 
alashka  and  Kamtschatka,  for  the  sole 
purpose  of  collecting  furs.  Their 
great  object  is  the  sea-beaver  or  otter. 
I  never  heard  them  inquire  after  any 
other  animal ;  though  those  whose 
skins  are  of  inferior  value  are  also 
made  part  of  their  cargoes.  I  never 
thought  to  ask  how  long  they  have 
had  a  settlement  upon  Oonalashka 
and  the  neighbouring  isles ;  but,  to 
judge  from  the  great  subjection  the 
natives  are  under,  this  cannot  be  of 
a  very  late  date.3  All  these  furriers 
are  relieved  from  time  to  time  by 
others.  Those  we  met  with  arrived 
here  from  Okotsk  in  1776,  and  are 
to  return  in  1781  ;  so  that  their  stay 
at  the  island  will  be  four  years  at 
least. 

It  is  now  time  to  give  some  account 
of  the  native  inhabitants.  To  all 
appearance  they  are  the  most  peace- 
able, inoffensive  people  I  ever  met 
with,  and  as  to  honesty  they  might 
serve  as  a  pattern  to  the  most  civilised 


2  The  Russians  began  to  frequent 
Oonalashka  in  1762. 


802 

nation  upon  earth.  But,  from  what 
I  saw  of  their  neighbours,  with  whom 
the  Russians  have  no  connection,  I 
douht  whether  this  was  their  original 
disposition,  and  rather  think  that  it 
has  been  the  consequence  of  their 
present  state  of  subjection.  Indeed, 
if  some  of  our  gentlemen  did  not  mis- 
understand the  Russians,  they  had 
"been  obliged  to  make  some  severe 
examples  before  they  could  bring  the 
islanders  into  any  order.  If  there 
were  severities  inflicted  at  first,  the 
best  apology  for  them  is  that  they 
have  produced  the  happiest  conse- 
quences ;  and  at  present  the  greatest 
harmony  subsists  between  the  two 
nations.  The  natives  have  their  own 
chiefs  in  each  island,  and  seem  to 
enjoy  liberty  and  property  unmolest- 
ed. But  whether  or  no  they  are 
tributaries  to  the  Russians,  we  could 
never  find  out.  There  was  some  reason 
to  think  that  they  are. 

These  people  are  rather  low  of  sta- 
ture, but  plump  and  well  shaped, 
with  rather  short  necks,  swarthy 
chubby  faces,  black  eyes,  small  beards, 
and  long,  straight,  black  hair  ;  which 
the  men  wear  loose  behind  and  cut 
before,  but  the  women  tie  up  in  a 
bunch.  Their  dress  has  been  occa- 
sionally mentioned.  Both  sexes  wear 
the  same  in  fashion  ;  the  only  differ- 
ence is  in  the  materials.  The  women's 
frock  is  made  of  sealskin,  and  that  of 
the  men  of  the  skins  of  birds  ;  both 
reaching  below  the  knee.  This  is  the 
whole  dress  of  the  women.  But  over 
the  frock  the  men  wear  another,  made 
of  gut,  which  resists  water,  and  has  a 
hood  to  it  which  draws  over  the  head. 
Some  of  them  wear  boots  ;  and  all  of 
them  have  a  kind  of  oval  snouted  cap, 
made  of  wood,  with  a  rim  to  admit 
the  head.  The  caps  are  dyed  with 
green  and  other  colours ;  and  round 
the  upper  part  of  the  rim  are  stuck 
the  long  bristles  of  some  sea-animal 
on  which  are  strung  glass  beads,  and 
on  the  front  is  a  small  image  or  two 
made  of  bone.  They  make  use  of  no 
paint ;  but  the  women  puncture  their 
faces  slightly,  and  both  men  and 
women  bore  the  under  lip,  to  which 
tkev  fix  nieces  of  bone.  But  it  is  as 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.      [VoY.  III.  B.  IV.  CH.  VI. 


uncommon  at  Oonalashka  to  see  a  man 
with  this  ornament,  as  to  see  a  woman 
without  it.  Some  fix  beads  to  the 
upper  lip,  under  the  nostrils  ;  and 
all  of  them  hang  ornaments  in  their 
ears. 

Their  food  consists  of  fish,  sea- 
animals,  birds,  roots,  and  berries,  and 
even  of  sea- weed.  They  dry  large  quan- 
tities of  fish  in  summer,  which  they  lay 
up  in  small  huts  for  winter  use,  and 
probably  they  preserve  roots  and  berries 
for  the  same  time  of  scarcity.  They 
eat  almost  everything  raw.  Boiling 
and  broiling  were  the  only  methods 
of  cookery  that  I  saw  them  make  use 
of ;  and  the  first  was  probably  learned 
from  the  Russians.  Some  have*  got 
little  brass  kettles  ;  and  those  who 
have  not,  make  one  of  a  flat  stone, 
with  sides  of  clay,  not  unlike  a  stand- 
ing pie.  I  was  once  present  when  the 
chief  of  Oonalashka  made  his  dinner 
off  the  raw  head  of  a  large  halibut,  just 
caught.  Before  any  was  given  to  the 
chief,  two  of  his  servants  ate  the  gills, 
without  any  other  dressing  besides 
squeezing  out  the  slime.  This  done, 
one  of  them  cut  off  the  head  of  the 
fish,  took  it  to  the  sea,  and  wasified 
it,  then  came  with  it,  and  sat  down 
by  the  chief ;  first  pulling  up  some 
grass,  upon  a  part  of  which  the  head 
was  laid,  and  the  rest  was  strewed 
before  the  chief.  He  then  cut  large 
pieces  off  the  cheeks,  and  laid  these 
within  reach  of  the  great  man,  who 
swallowed  them  with  as  much  satis- 
faction as  we  should  do  raw  oysters. 
When  he  had  done,  the  remains  of 
the  head  were  cut  in  pieces  and  given 
to  the  attendants,  who  tore  off  the 
meat  with  their  teeth,  and  gnawed 
the  bones  like  so  many  dogs. 

As  these  people  use  no  paint,  they 
are  not  so  dirty  in  their  persons  as 
the  savages  who  thus  besmear  them- 
selves ;  but  they  are  full  as  lousy 
and  filthy  in  their  houses.  Their 
method  of  building  is  as  follows  : 
They  dig  in  the  ground  an  oblong 
square  pit,  the  length  of  which  sel- 
dom exceeds  fifty  feet  and  the  breadth 
twenty,  but  in  general  the  dimensions 
are  smaller.  Over  this  excavation 
they  form  the  roof,  of  wood  which 


OCT.  1778.]  HOME  LIFE  OF  THE  NATIVES, 

the  sea  throws  ashore.     This  roof  is 
covered  first  with  grass,    and  then 


303 


with  earth,  so  that  the  outward  ap- 
pearance is  like  a  dunghill.  In  the 
middle  of  the  roof,  towards  each  end, 
is  left  a  square  opening  by  which  the 
light  is  admitted  ;  one  of  these  open- 
ings being  for  this  purpose  only,  and 
the  other  being  also  used  to  go  in 
and  out  by,  with  the  help  of  a  ladder, 
or  rather  a  post  with  steps  cut  in  it. 
In  some  houses  there  is  another  en- 
trance below,  but  this  is  not  common. 
Round  the  sides  and  ends  of  the  huts 
the  families  (for  several  are  lodged 
together)  have  their  separate  apart- 
ments, where  they  sleep  and  sit  at 
work,  not  upon  benches,  but  in  a 
kind  of  a  concave  trench,  which  is 
dug  all  round  the  inside  of  the  house, 
and  covered  with  mats,  so  that  this 
part  is  kept  tolerably  decent.  But 
the  middle  of  the  house,  which  is 
common  to  all  the  families,  is  far 
otherwise.  For  although  it  be  cover- 
ed with  dry  grass,  it  is  a  receptacle 
for  dirt  of  every  kind,  and  the  place 
for  the  urine  trough,  the  stench  of 
which  is  not  mended  by  raw  hides 
or  leather  being  almost  continually 
steeped  in  it.  Behind  and  over  the 
trench  are  placed  the  few  effects 
they  are  possessed  of,  such  as  their 
clothing,  mats,  and  skins.  Their 
household  furniture  consists  of  bowls, 
spoons,  buckets,  piggins,  or  cans, 
matted  baskets,  and  perhaps  a  Russian 
kettle  or  pot.  All  these  utensils  are 
very  neatly  made  and  well-formed ; 
and  yet  we  saw  no  other  tools  among 
them  but  the  knife  and  the  hatchet, 
that  is,  a  small  flat  piece  of  iron  made 
like  an  adze  by  fitting  it  into  a  crook- 
ed wooden  handle.  These  were  the 
only  instruments  we  met  with  there 
made  of  iron.  For  although  the 
Russians  live  amongst  them,  we 
found  much  less  of  this  metal  in 
their  possession  than  we  had  met 
with  in  the  possession  of  other  tribes 
on  the  American  continent  who  had 
never  seen,  nor  perhaps  had  any  in- 
tercourse with,  the  Russians.  Pro- 
bably a  few  beads,  a  little  tobacco 
and  snuff,  purchase  all  they  have  to 
spare.  There  are  few,  if  any  of  them, 


that  do  not  both  smoke  and  chew 
tobacco,  and  take  snuff;  a  luxury 
that  bids  fair  to  keep  them  always 
poor. 

They  did  not  seem  to  wish  for 
more  iron,  or  to  want  any  other  in- 
struments except  sewing  needles, 
their  own  being  made  of  bone.  "With 
these  they  not  only  sew  their  canoes 
and  make  their  clothes,  but  also 
very  curious  embroidery.  Instead  of 
thread  they  use  the  fibres  of  sinews, 
which  they  split  to  the  thickness 
which  each  sort  of  work  requires. 
All  sewing  is  performed  by  the 
women.  They  are  the  tailors,  shoe- 
makers, and  boat-builders  or  boat- 
coverers,  for  the  men  most  probably 
construct  the  frame  of  wood  over 
which  the  skins  are  sewed.  They 
make  mats  and  baskets  of  grass  that 
are  both  beautiful  and  strong.  In- 
deed, there  is  a  neatness  and  perfec- 
tion in  most  of  their  work  that  shows 
they  neither  want  ingenuity  nor  per- 
severance. 

I  saw  not  a  fireplace  in  any  one  of 
their  houses.  They  are  lighted  as 
well  as  heated  by  lamps,  which  are 
simple,  and  yet  answer  the  purpose 
very  well.  They  are  made  of  a  flat 
skme,  hollowed  on  one  side  like  a 
plate,  and  about  the  same  size,  or 
rather  larger.  In  the  hollow  part 
they  put  the  oil,  mixed  with  a  little 
dry  grass,  which  serves  the  purpose 
of  a  wick.  Both  men  and  women 
frequently  warm  their  bodies  over 
one  of  these  lamps,  by  placing  it 
between  their  legs,  under  their  gar- 
ments, and  sitting  thus  over  it  for  a 
few  minutes.  They  produce  fire  both 
by  collision  and  by  attrition ;  the 
former  by  striking  two  stones  one 
against  another,  on  one  of  which  a 
good  deal  of  brimstone  is  first  rubbed. 
The  latter  method  is  with  two  pieces 
of  wood,  one  of  which  is  a  stick  of 
about  eighteen  inches  in  length,  and 
the  other  a  flat  piece.  The  pointed, 
end  of  the  stick  they  press  upon  the 
other,  whirling  it  nimbly  round  as  a 
drill,  thus  producing  fire  in  a  few 
minutes.  This  method  is  common  in 
many  parts  of  the  world.  It  is  prac- 
tised by  the.  Kamtschadales,  by  these 


304 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.      [Voy.  III.  B.  IV.  CH.  VI, 


people,  by  the  Greenlanders,  by  the 
Brazilians,  by  the  Otaheiteans,  by  the 
New  Hollanders,  and  probably  by 
many  other  nations.  Yet  some 
learned  and  ingenious  men  have 
founded  an  argument  on  this  custom 
to  prove  that  this  and  that  nation 
are  of  the  same  extraction.  But 
accidental  agreements,  in  a  few  par- 
ticular instances,  will  not  authorise 
such  a  conclusion  ;  nor  will  a  dis- 
agreement either  in  manners  or  cus- 
toms between  two  different  nations 
of  course  prove  that  they  are  of 
different  extraction.  I  could  support 
this  opinion  by  many  instances  be- 
sides the  one  just  mentioned. 

No  such  thing  as  an  offensive  or 
even  defensive  weapon  "was  seen 
amongst  the  natives  of  Oonalashka. 
We  cannot  suppose  that  the  Russians 
found  them  in  such  a  defenceless 
state;  it  is  more  probable  that,  for 
.their  own  security,  they  have  dis- 
armed them.  Political  reasons,  too, 
may  have  induced  the  Russians  not 
to  allow  these  islanders  to  have  any 
large  canoes  ;  for  it  is  difficult  to 
believe  they  had  none  such  originally, 
as  we  found  them  amongst  all  their 
neighbours.  However,  we  saw  none 
here  but  one  or  two  belonging  to  the 
Russians.  The  canoes  made  use  of 
by  the  natives  are  the  smallest  we 
had  anywhere  seen  upon  the  American 
coast,  though  built  after  the  same 
manner,  with  some  little  difference 
in  the  construction.  The  stern  of 
these  terminates  a  little  abruptly ;  the 
head  is  forked,  the  upper  point  of  the 
fork  projecting  without  the  under  one, 
which  is  even  with  the  surface  of  the 
water.  Why  they  should  thus  con- 
struct them  is  difficult  to  conceive, 
for  the  fork  is  apt  to  catch  hold  of 
everything  that  comes  in  the  way, 
to  prevent  which  they  fix  a  piece  of 
small  stick  from  point  to  point.  In 
other  respects  their  canoes  are  built 
after  the  manner  of  those  used  by  the 
Greenlanders  and  Esquimaux,  the 
framing  being  of  slender  laths,  and 
the  covering  of  sealskins.  They  are 
about  twelve  feet  long,  a  foot  and  a 
half  broad  in  the  middle,  and  twelve 
or  fourteen  inches  deep.  Upon  occa- 


sion they  can  carry  two  persons  ;  one 
of  whom  is  stretched  at  Ml  length 
in  the  canoe,  jindtKe  other  sits  in  the 
seat,  or  round  hole,  which  is  nearly 
in  the  middle.  Round  this  hole  is  a 
rim  or  hoop  of  wood,  about  which  is 
sewed  gut  skin,  that  can  be  drawn 
together  or  opened  like  a  purse,  with 
leathern  thongs  fitted  to  the  outer 
edge.  The  man  seats  himself  in  this 
place,  draws  the  skin  tight  round 
his  body  over  his  gut  frock,  and 
brings  the  ends  of  the  thongs  or 
purse-string  over  the  shoulder  to  keep 
it  in  its  place.  The  sleeves  of  his 
frock  are  tied  round  his  wrists  ;  and 
it  being  close  round  his  neck,  and  the 
hood  drawn  over  his  head,  where  it  is 
confined  by  his  cap,  water  can 
scarcely  penetrate  either  to  his  body 
or  into  the  canoe.  If  any  should, 
however,  insinuate  its~elf,  the  boat- 
man carries  a  piece  of  sponge  with 
which  he  dries  it  up.  He  uses  the 
double-bladed  paddle,  which  is  held 
with  both  hands  in  the  middle, 
striking  the  water  with  a  quick  re- 
gular motion,  first  on  one  side  and 
then  on  the  other.  By  this  means 
the  canoe  is  impelled  at  a  great  rate, 
and  in  a  direction  as  straight  as  a 
line  can  be  drawn.  In  sailing  from 
Egoochshac  to  Samganoodha,  two  or 
three  canoes  kept  way  with  the  ship, 
though  she  was  going  at  the  rate  of 
seven  miles  an  hour.  Their  fishing 
and  hunting  implements  'lie  ready 
upon  their  canoes,  under  straps  fixed 
for  the  purpose.  They  are  all  made, 
in  great  perfection,  of  wood  and  bone, 
and  differ  very  little  from  those  used 
by  the  Greenlanders,  as  they  are 
described  by  Crantz.  The  only  dif- 
ference is  in  the  point  of  the  missile 
dart,  which  in  some  we  saw  here  is 
not  above  an  inch  long;  whereas 
Crantz  says,  that  those  of  the  Green- 
landers  are  a  foot  and  a  half  in  length. 
These  people  are  very  expert  in  strik- 
ing fish,  both  in  the  sea  and  in  rivers. 
They  also  make  use  of  hooks  and 
lines,  nets  and  wears.  The  hooks  are 
composed  of  bone,  and  the  lines  of 
sinews. 

The  fishes  which  are  common  to 
other  northern  seas  are  found  here, 


ANIMALS  SEEN"  ON  THE  COAST. 


OCT.  1778.] 
such  as  whales,  grampuses,  por- 
poises, sword-fish,  halibut,  cod,  sal- 
mon, trout,  soles,  flat-fish  ;  several 
other  sorts  of  small  fish  ;  and  there 
may  be  many  more  that  we  had  no 
opportunity  of  seeing.  Halibut  and 
salmon  seem  to  be  in  the  greatest 
plenty,  and  on  them  the  inhabitants 
of  these  isles  subsist  chiefly,  at  least 
they  were  the  only  sort  of  fish,  ex- 
cept a  few  cod,  which  we  observed  to 
be  laid  up  for  their  winter  store.  To 
the  north  of  60°  the  sea  is  in  a  man- 
ner destitute  of  small  fish  of  every 
kind,  but  then  whales  are  more  num- 
erous. Seals,  and  that  whole  tribe  of 
sea-animals,  are  not  so  numerous  as 
in  many  other  seas.  Nor  can  this  be 
thought  strange,  since  there  is  hardly 
.any  part  of  the  coast  on  either  con- 
tinent, nor  any  of  the  islands  lying 
between  them,  that  is  not  inhabited, 
and  whose  inhabitants  hunt  these 
animals  for  their  food  and  clothing. 
Sea-horses  are,  indeed,  in  prodigious 
numbers  about  the  ice  ;  and  the  sea- 
otter  is,  I  believe,  nowhere  found  but 
in  this  sea.  "We  sometimes  saw  an 
animal  with  a  head  like  a  seal's,  that 
blew  after  the  manner  of  whales. 
It  was  larger  than  a  seal,  and  its 
colour  was  white,  with  some  dark 
spots.  Probably  this  was  the  sea-cow 
or  "manatee." 

I  think  I  may  venture  to  assert, 
that  sea  and  water  fowls  are  neither 
in  such  numbers  nor  in  such  variety 
as  with  us  in  the  northern  parts  of 
the  Atlantic  Ocean.  There  are  some, 
however,  here  that  I  do  not  remember 
to  have  seen  anywhere  else,  particularly 
the  Alca  monochroa  of  Steller,  and  a 
black  and  white  duck,  which  I  con- 
ceive to  be  different  from  the  stone- 
duck  described  by  Krasheninikoff.  * 
All  the  other  bipds  seen  by  us  are 
mentioned  by  this  author,  except 
some  that  we  met  with  near  the  ice  ; 
and  most  if  not  all  of  these  are  de- 
scribed by  Martin  in  his  voyage  to 
Greenland.  It  is  a  little  extraordin- 


305 


1  In  his  "  Description  of  Kamts- 
chatka, "  published  in  French  at  Am- 
sterdam in  1770,  and  afterwards  trans- 
lated into  English. 


ary  that  penguins,  which  are  common 
in  many  parts  of  the  world,  should 
not  be  found  in  this  sea.  Albatrosses, 
too,  are  so  very  scarce  that  I  cannot 
help  thinking  that  this  is  not  their 
proper  climate.  The  few  land-birds 
that  we  met  with  are  the  same  with 
those  in  Europe;  but  there  may  be 
many  others  which  we  had  no  oppor- 
tunity of  knowing.  A  very  beautiful 
bird  was  shot  in  the  woods  at  Norton 
Sound,  which  I  am  told  is  sometimes 
found  in  England,  and  known  by  the 
name  of  chatterer.  Our  people  met 
with  other  small  birds  there,  biTt  in 
no  great  variety  and  abundance ;  such 
as  the  woodpecker,  the  bulltinch,  the 
yellow  finch,  and  a  small  bird  called 
a  titmouse. 

As  our  excursions  and  observations 
were  confined  wholly  to  the  sea-coast, 
it  is  not  to  be  expected  that  we  could 
know  much,  of  the  animals  or  vege- 
tables of  the  country.  Except  mos- 
quitoes, there  are  few  other  insects, 
nor  reptiles  that  I  saw,  but  lizards. 
There  are  no  deer  upon  Oonalashka 
or  upon  any  other  of  the  islands. 
Nor  have  they  any  domestic  animals, 
not  even  dogs.  Foxes  and  weasels 
were  the  only  quadrupeds  we  saw  ; 
but  they  told  us  that  they  had  hares 
also  and  the  "marmottas  "2  men- 
tioned by  Krasheninikoff.  Hence  it 
is  evident  that  the  sea  and  river* 
supply  the  greatest  share  of  food  to 
the  inhabitants.  They  are  also 
obliged  to  the  sea  for  all  the  wood 
made  use  of  for  building  and  other 
necessary  purposes;  for  not  a  stick 
grows  upon  any  of  the  islands  nor 
upon  the  adjacent  coast  of  the  con- 
tinent. 

The  learned  tell  us,  that  the  seeds 
of  plants  are  by  various  means  con- 
veyed from  one  part  of  the  world  to 
another ;  even  to  islands  in  the  midst 
of  great  oceans  and  far  remote  from 
any  other  land.  How  comes  it  to 
pass  that  there  are  no  trees  growing 
on  this  part  of  the  continent  of 
America,  nor  any  other  of  the  islands 
lying  n.'^ar  it?  They  are  certainly  as 
well  situated  for  receiving  seeds,  by 


Marmots. 


306 

all  the  various  ways  i.  have  heard 
of,  as  any  of  those  coasts  that  abound 
in  wood.  May  not  Nature  have 
denied  to  some  soil  the  power  of  rais- 
ing trees  without  the  assistance  of 
art  ?  As  to  the  drift-wood  upon  the 
shores  of  the  islands  I  have  no  doubt 
that  it  comes  from  America.  For 
although  there  may  be  none  on  the 
neighbouring  coast,  enough  may  grow 
farther  up  the  country,  which  tor- 
rents in  the  spring  may  break  loose 
and  bring  down  to  the  sea.  And  not 
a  little  may  be  conveyed  from  the 
woody  coasts,  though  they  lie  at  a 
greater  distance. 

There  are  a  great  variety  of  plants 
at  Oonalashka,  and  most  of  them 
were  in  flower  the  latter  end  of  June. 
Several  of  them  are  such  as  we  find 
in  Europe  and  in  other  parts  of 
America,  particularly  in  Newfound- 
land ;  and  others  of  them,  which  are 
also  met  with  in  Kanitschatka,  are 
eaten  by  the  natives  both  there  and 
here.  The  principal  one  is  the 
"faranne,"  or  lily  root,  which  is 
about  the  size  of  a  root  of  garlic, 
round,  made  up  of  a  number  of  small 
cloves  and  grains  like  groats.  When 
boiled  it  is  somewhat  like  saloop ;  the 
taste  is  not  disagreeable,  and  we 
found  means  to  make  some  good 
dishes  with  it.  It  does  not  seem  to 
be  in  great  plenty,  for  we  got  none 
but  what  Ismyloff  gave  us.  We  must 
reckon  amongst  the  food  of  the 
natives  some  other  wild  roots;  the 
stalk  of  a  plant  resembling  Angelica; 
and  berries  of  several  different  sorts, 
such  as  bramble-berries,  cran-berries, 
hurtle-berries,  heath-berries,  a  small 
red  berry  which  in  Newfoundland  is 
called  partridge-berry ;  and  another 
orown  berry  unknown  to  us.  This  has 
somewhat  of  the  taste  of  a  sloe,  but  is 
unlike  it  in  every  other  respect.  It  is 
very  astringent  if  eaten  in  any  quantity. 
Brandy  might  be  distilled  from  it. 
Captain  Clerke  attempted  to  preserve 
some,  but  they  fermented  and  became 
as  strong  as  if  they  had  been  steeped 
in  spirits.  There  were  a  few  other 
plants  which  we  found  serviceable, 
out  are  not  made  use  of  by  either 
Russians  or  natives:  such  as  wild  ' 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.        [VoY.  III.  B.  IV.  CH.  VI. 

purslain,  peatops,  a  kind  of  scurvy- 
grass,  cresses,  and  some  others.  All 
these  we  found  very  palatable  dressed 
either  in  soups  or  in  salads.  On  the 
low  ground  and  in  the  valleys  is 
plenty  of  grass,  which  grows  very 
thick  and  to  a  great  length.  I  am 
of  opinion  that  cattle  might  subsist 
at  Oonalashka  all  the  year  round 
without  being  housed.  And  the  soil 
in  many  places  seemed  capable  of 
producing  grain,  roots,  and  vege- 
tables. But  at  present  the  Russian 
traders  and  the  natives  seem  satisfied 
with  what  Nature  brings  forth. 

Native  sulphur  was  seen  amongst 
the  inhabitants  of  the  island,  but  I 
had  no  opportunity  of  learning  where 
they  got  it.  We  found  also  ochre, 
a  stone  that  gives  a  purple  colour, 
and  another  that  gives  a  very  good 
green.  It  may  be  doubted  whether 
this  last  is  known.  In  its  natural 
state,  it  is  of  a  greyish  green  colour, 
coarse  and  heavy.  It  easily  dissolves 
in  oil;  but  when  put  into  water  it 
entirely  loses  its  properties.  It 
seemed  to  be  scarce  in  Oonalashka  ; 
but  we  were  told  that  it  was  in 
greater  plenty  on  the  Island  Oone- 
mak.  As  to  the  stones  about  the 
shore  and  hills  I  saw  nothing  in  them 
that  was  uncommon. 

The  people  of  Oonalashka  bury 
their  dead  on  the  summits  of  hills, 
and  raise  a  little  hillock  over  the 
grave.  In  a  walk  into  the  country 
one  of  the  natives  who  attended  me 
pointed  out  several  of  these  recep- 
tacles of  the  dead.  There  was  one  of 
them  by  the  side  of  the  road  leading 
from  the  harbour  to  the  village,  over 
which  was  raised  a  heap  of  stones. 
It  was  observed  that  every  one  who 
passed  it  added  one  to  it.1  I  saw  in 
the  country  several  stone  hillocks 
that  seemed  to  have  been  raised  by 
art.  Many  of  them  were  apparently 
of  great  antiquity.  What  their 
notions  are  of  the  Deity  and  of  a 


1  It  is  almost  superfluous  to  recall 
here  the  ancient  Celtic  practice,  and 
modern  Scottish  proverb  of  "adding 
a  stone  to  the  cairn  "  of  any  one  to 
whose  memory  honour  was  iu  tended. 


OCT.  1773.] 


LEAVE  SAMGAtfOODHA. 


307 


future  state,  I  know  not.  I  am 
equally  unacquainted  with  their  di- 
versions; nothing  having  been  seen 
that  could  give  us  an  insight  into 
either. 

They  are  remarkably  cheerful  and 
friendly  amongst  each  other  ;  and 
always  behaved  with  great  civility  to 
us.  The  Russians  told  us  that  they 
never  had  any  connections  with  their 
women,  because  they  were  not  Chris- 
tians. Our  people  were  not  so  scrupu- 
lous ;  and  some  of  them  had  reason  to 
repent  that  the  females  of  Oonalashka 
encouraged  their  addresses  without 
any  reserve,  for  their  health  suffered 
by  a  distemper  that  is  not  unknown 
here.  The  natives  of  this  island  are 
also  subject  to  the  cancer,  or  a  com- 
plaint like  it,  which  those  whom  it 
attacks  are  very  careful  to  conceal. 
They  do  not  seem  to  be  long-lived. 
I  nowhere  saw  a  person,  man  or 
woman,  whom  I  could  suppose  to  be 
sixty  years  of  age ;  and  but  very 
few  who  appeared  to  be  above  fifty. 
Probably  their  hard  way  of  living 
may  be  the  means  of  shortening  their 
days. 

I  have  frequently  had  occasion  to 
mention,  from  the  time  of  our  arrival 
in  Prince  William's  Sound,  how  re- 
markably the  natives  on  this  north- 
west side  of  America  resemble  the 
Greenlanders  and  Esquimaux,  in 
various  particulars  of  person,  dress, 
weapons,  canoes,  and  the  like.  How- 
ever, I  was  much  less  struck  with 
this  than  with  the  affinity  which  we 
found  subsisting  between  the  dialects 
of  the  Greenlanders  and  Esquimaux 
and  those  of  Norton  Sound  and  Oon- 
alashka. This  appears  from  a  table 
of  corresponding  words  which  I  put 
together.  Enough  is  certain  to  war- 
rant this  judgment,  that  there  is 
great  reason  to  believe  that  all  these 
nations  are  of  the  same  extraction  ; 
and  if  so,  there  can  be  little  doubt 
of  there  being  a  northern  communi- 
cation of  some  sort  by  sea  between 
this  west  side  of  America  and  the 
east  side  through  Baffin's  Bay,  which 
communication,  however,  may  be 
effectually  shut  up  against  ships  by 
ice  and  other  impediments.  Such 


at    least    was    my  opinion    at    this 
time.1 


CHAPTER  VII. 

IN  the  morning  of  Monday  the  26th 
we  put  to  sea  from  Samganoodha  har- 
bour, and,  as  the  wind  was  southerly, 
stood  away  to  the  westward.  My 
intention  was  now  to  proceed  to  Sand- 
wich Islands,  there  to  spend  a  few  of 
the  winter  months,  in  case  we  should 
meet  with  the  necessary  refreshments, 
and  then  to  direct  our  course  to  Kamts- 
chatka,  so  as  to  endeavour  to  be  there 
by  the  middle  of  May  the  ensuing 
summer.  In  consequence  of  this  re- 
solution, I  gave  Captain  Clerke  orders 
how  to  proceed  in  case  of  separation  ; 
appointing  Sandwich  Islands  for  the 
first  place  of  rendezvous,  and  the  har- 
bour of  Petropaulowska  in  Kamts- 
chatka  for  the  second.  Soon  after  we 
were  out  of  the  harbour,  the  wind 
veered  to  the  SE.  and  ESE.,  which 
by  the  evening  carried  us  as  far  as  the 
western  part  of  Oonalashka,  where  we 
got  the  wind  at  S.  With  this  we 
stretched  to  the  westward  till  7  o'clock 
the  next  morning,  when  we  wore  and 
stood  to  the  E.  The  wind  by  this 
time  had  increased  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  reduce  us  to  our  three  courses. 
It  blew  in  very  heavy  squalls,  attend- 
ed with  rain,  hail,  and  snow. 

At  9  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the 
28th,  the  Island  of  Oonalashka  bore 
SE.,  four  leagues  distant.  We  then 
wore  and  stood  to  the  westward.  The 
strength  of  the  gale  was  now  over,  and 
towards  evening  the  little  wind  that 
blew  insensibly  veered  round  to  the 
E.,  where  it  continued  but  a  short 
time  before  it  got  to  NE.  and  in- 
creased to  a  very  hard  gale  with  rain. 
I  steered  first  to  the  southward  ;  and 
as  the  wind  inclined  to  the  N.  and 
NW.,  I  steered  more  westerly.  On 


1  The  justice  of  Captain  Cook's 
inference  has  been  amply  demon- 
strated since  his  time  by  the  success 
of  those  expeditions,  the  history  of 
which  is  familiar  to  all. 


the  29th,  at  half-past  six  in  the  morn- 
ing, we  saw  land  extending  from  E. 
by  S.  to  S.  by  W.,  supposed  to  be  the 
Island  Amoghta.  At  eight,  finding 
.  that  we  could  not  weather  the  island, 
as  the  wind  had  now  veered  to  the 
westward,  I  gave  over  plying,  and 
bore  away  for  Oonalashka,  with  a  view 
of  going  to  the  northward  and  east- 
ward of  that  island,  not  daring  to 
attempt  a  passage  to  the  SE.  of  it  in 
so  hard  a  gale  of  wind.  At  the  time 
we  bore  away,  the  land  extended  from 
E.  by  S.  half  S.  to  SSW.,  four  leagues 
distant.  The  Longitude  by  the  time- 
keeper was  191°  17'  and  the  Latitude 
53°  38'.  At  11  o'clock,  as  we  were 
steering  to  the  NE.,  we  discovered  an 
elevated  rock,  like  a  tower,  bearing 
NNE.  half  E. ,  four  leagues  distant.  It 
lies  in  the  Latitude  of  53°  57' and  in  the 
Longitude  of  191°  2'.  We  must  have 
passed  very  near  it  in  the  night.  We 
could  judge  of  its  steepness  from  this 
circumstance,  that  the  sea,  which  now 
ran  very  high,  broke  nowhere  but 
against  it.  At  three  in  the  afternoon, 
after  getting  a  sight  of  Oonalashka, 
we  shortened  sail  and  hauled  the  wind, 
not  having  time  to  get  through  the 
passage  before  night.  At  daybreak 
the  next  morning  we  bore  away  under 
courses  and  close-reefed  topsails,  hav- 
ing a  very  hard  gale  at  WNW.,  with 
heavy  squalls  attended  with  snow. 
At  noon  we  were  in  the  middle  of  the 
strait  between  Oonalashka  and  Oon- 
ella,  the  harbour  of  Samganoodha 
bearing  SSE. ,  one  league  distant.  At 
three  in  the  afternoon,  being  through 
the  strait  and  clear  of  the  isles,  Cape 
Providence  bearing  WSW.,  two  or 
three  leagues  distant,  we  steered  to 
the  southward  under  double-reefed 
topsails  and  courses,  with  the  wind 
at  WNW.,  a  strong  gale  and  fair 
weather. 

On  Monday  the  2d  of  November, 
the  wind  veered  to  the  southward, 
and  before  night  blew  a  violent  storm, 
which  obliged  us  to  bring  to.  The 
Discovery  fired  several  guns,  which 
we  answered,  but  without  knowing  on 
what  occasion  they  were  fired.  At  8 
o'clock  we  lost  sight  of  her  and  did 
liot  see  licr  again  till  eight  the  next 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.        [VoY.III.  B.  IV. CH.  VII. 


morning.  At  ten  she  joined  us  ;  and 
as  the  height  of  the  gale  was  now 
over,  and  the  wind  had  veered  back 
to  WNW.,  we  made  sail  and  resumed 
our  course  to  the  southward.  The 
6th  in  the  evening,  being  in  the  Lati- 
tude of  42°  12'  and  in  the  Longitude 
of  201°  26',  the  variation  was  17°  15' 
E.  The  next  morning,  our  Latitude 
being  41°  20'  and  our  Longitude  202°, 
a  shag  or  cormorant  flew  several  times 
round  the  ship.  As  these  birds  are 
seldom  if  ever  known  to  fly  far  out 
of  sight  of  land,  I  judged  that  some 
was  not  far  distant.  However,  we 
could  see  none.  In  the  afternoon, 
there  being  but  little  wind,  Captain 
Clerke  came  on  board  and  informed 
me  of  a  melancholy  accident  that 
happened  on  board  his  ship  the  second 
night  after  we  left  Samganoodha. 
The  main-tack  gave  way,  killed  one 
man,  and  wounded  the  boatswain  and 
two  or  three  more.  In  addition  to 
this  misfortune,  I  now  learned  that 
on  the  evening  of  the  3d  his  sails  and 
rigging  received  considerable  damage; 
and  that  the  guns  which  he  fired  were 
the  signal  to  bring  to. 

On  the  8th  the  wind  was  at  N.,  a 
gentle  breeze,  with  clear  weather.  On 
the  9th,  in  the  Latitude  of  394°,  we 
had  eight  hours'  calm.  This  was 
succeeded  by  the  wind  from  the  S. 
attended  with  fair  weather.  Availing 
ourselves  of  this,  as  many  of  our  people 
as  could  handle  a  needle  were  set  to 
work  to  repair  the  sails  ;  and  the 
carpenters  were  employed  to  put  the 
boats  in  order.  On  the  12th  at  noon, 
being  then  in  the  Latitude  of  38°  14' 
and  in  the  Longitude  of  206°  17',  the 
wind  returned  back  to  the  northward; 
and  on  the  15th,  in  the  Latitude  of 
33°  30',  it  veered  to  the  E.  At  this 
time  we  saw  a  tropic-bird  and  a  dol- 
phin ;  the  first  that  we  had  observed 
during  the  passage.  On  the  17th  the 
wind  veered  to  the  southward,  where 
it  continued  till  the  afternoon  of  the 
19th,  when  a  squall  of  wind  and  rain 
brought  it  at  once  round  by  the  W. 
to  the  N.  This  was  in  the  Latitude 
of  32°  26',  and  in  the  Longitude  of 
207°  30'.  The  wind  presently  in- 
creased to  a  very  strong  guie,  attended 


Nov.  1778.]  LANP  I] 

with  rain,  so  as  to  bring  us  under 
double-reefed  topsails.  In  lowering 
down  the  main-topsail  to  reef  it,  the 
wind  tore  it  quite  out  of  the  foot- 
rope  ;  and  it  was  split  in  several 
other  parts.  This  sail  had  only  been 
brought  to  the  yard  the  day  before, 
after  having  had  a  repair.  The  next 
morning  we  got  another  topsail  to 
the  yard.  This  gale  proved  to  be  the 
forerunner  of  the  trade-wind,  which 
in  Latitude  25°  veered  to  the  E.  and 
ESE.  I  continued  to  steer  to  the 
southward  till  daylight  in  the  morn- 
ing of  the  25th,  at  which  time  we  were 
in  the  Latitude  of  20°  55'.  I  now 
spread  the  ships1  and  steered  to  the 
west.  In  the  evening  we  joined,  and 
at  midnight  brought  to.  At  daybreak 
next  morning  land  was  seen  extending 
from  SSE.  to  W.  We  made  sail  and 
stood  for  it.  At  eight  it  extended 
from  SE.  half  S.  to  W.,  the  nearest 
part  two  leagues  distant.  It  was  sup- 
posed that  we  saw  the  extent  of  the 
land  to  the  E.,  but  not  to  the  W. 
We  were  now  satisfied  that  the  group 
of  the  Sandwich  Islands  had  been  only 
imperfectly  discovered ;  as  those  of 
them  which  we  had  visited  in  our 
progress  northward  all  lie  to  the  lee- 
ward of  our  present  station. 

In  the  country  was  an  elevated 
saddle  hill,  whose  summit  appeared 
above  the  clouds.  From  this  hill  the 
land  fell  in  a  gentle  slope,  and  ter- 
minated in  a  steep  rocky  coast,  against 
which  the  sea  broke  in  a  dreadful  surf. 
Finding  that  we  could  not  weather 
the  island,  I  bore  up  and  ranged  along 
the  coast  to  the  westward.  It  was 
not  long  before  we  saw  people  on 
several  parts  of  the  shore,  and  some 
houses  and  plantations.  The  country 
seemed  to  be  both  well  wooded  and 
watered,  and  running  streams  were 
seen  falling  into  the  sea  in  various 
places.  As  it  was  of  the  last  import- 
ance to  procure  a  supply  of  provisions 
at  these  islands,  and  experience  hav- 
ing taught  me  that  I  could  have  no 
chance  to  succeed  in  this  if  a  free  trade 

1  To  give  the  better  chance  of  dis- 
covering the  land,  near  which  he  knew 
that  he  had  arrived. 


SIGHT. 


809 


with  the  natives  were  to  be  allowed, 
that  is,  if  it  were  left  to  every  man's 
discretion  to  trade  for  what  he  pleased 
and  in  the  manner  he  pleased ;  for 
this  substantial  reason  I  now  pub- 
lished an  order  prohibiting  all  persons 
from  trading  except  such  as  should  bo 
appointed  by  me  and  Captain  Clerke, 
and  even  these  were  enjoined  to  trade 
only  for  provisions  and  refreshments. 
Women  were  also  forbidden  to  be 
admitted  into  the  ships,  except  under 
certain  restrictions.  But  the  evil  I 
meant  to  prevent  by  this  regulation, 
I  soon  found  had  already  got  amongst 
them. 

At  noon  the  coast  extended  from 
S.  81°  E.  to  K  56°  W. ;  a  low  flat, 
like  an  isthmus,  bore  S.  42°  W.  ;  the 
nearest  shore  three  or  four  miles  dis- 
tant ;  the  Latitude  was  20°  59',  and 
the  Longitude  203°  50'.  Seeing  some 
canoes  coming  off  to  us,  I  brought  to. 
As  soon  as  they  got  alongside,  many 
of  the  people  who  conducted  them 
came  into  the  ship  without  the  least 
hesitation.  We  found  them  to  be  of  the 
same  nation  with  the  inhabitants  of 
the  islands  more  to  leeward  which  we 
had  already  visited ;  and,  if  we  did  not 
mistake  them,  they  knew  of  our  hav- 
ing been  there.  Indeed,  it  rather 
appeared  too  evident,  for  these  people 
had  got  amongst  them  the  venereal 
distemper,  and  as  yet  I  knew  of  no 
other  way  of  its  reaching  them  but  by 
an  intercourse  with  their  neighbours 
since  our  leaving  them.  We  got  from 
our  visitors  a  quantity  of  cuttle-fish 
for  nails  and  pieces  of  iron.  They 
brought  very  little  fruit  and  roots, 
but  told  us  that  they  had  plenty  of 
them  on  their  island,  as  also  hogs  and 
fowls.  In  the  evening,  the  horizon 
being  clear  to  the  westward,  we  judged 
the  westernmost  land  in  sight  to  be  an 
island  separated  from  that  off  which 
we  now  were.  Having  no  doubt  that 
the  people  would  return  to  the  ships 
next  day  with  the  produce  of  their 
country,  I  kept  plying  off  all  night, 
and  in  the  morning  stood  close  in 
shore.  At  first  only  a  few  of  the 
natives  visited  us  ;  but  towards  noon 
we  had  the  company  of  a  good  many, 
who  brought  with  them  oread-fruit, 


310 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.     [Yor.  TTT.  B.  IV.  CH.  VII. 


potatoes,  "taro  "  or  eddy  roots,  a  few 
plantains,  and  small  pigs,  all  of  which 
they  exchanged  for  nails  and  iron 
tools.  Indeed,  we  had  nothing  else 
to  give  them.  We  continued  trading 
with  them  till  4  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon, when,  having  disposed  of  all 
their  cargoes,  and  not  seeming  in- 
clined to  fetch  more,  we  made  sail 
and  stood  off  shore.  While  we  were 
lying  to,  though  the  wind  blew  fresh, 
I  observad  that  the  ships  drifted  to 
the  east ;  consequently  there  must 
have  been  a  current  setting  in  that 
direction.  This  encouraged  me  to 
ply  to  windward,  with  a  view  to  get 
round  the  east  end  of  the  island,  and 
so  have  the  whole  leeside  before  us. 
In  the  afternoon  of  the  30th,  being 
off  the  NE.  end  of  the  island,  several 
canoes  came  off  to  the  ships.  Most 
of  these  belonged  to  a  chief  named 
Terreeoboo,  who  came  in  one  of  them. 
He  made  me  a  present  of  two  or  three 
small  pigs,  and  we  got  by  barter  from 
the  other  people  a  little  fruit.  After 
a  stay  of  about  two  hours  they  all  left 
us,  except  six  or  eight  of  their  company 
who  chose  to  remain  on  board.  A 
double  sailing  canoe  came  soon  after 
to  attend  upon  them,  which  we  towed 
astern  all  night.  In  the  evening  we 
discovered  another  island  to  wind- 
ward, which  the  natives  call  Owhy- 
hee. l  The  name  of  that  off  which  we 
had  been  for  some  da}rs,  we  were  also 
told,  is  Mowee. 

On  the  1st  of  December,  at  eight  in 
the  morning,  Owhyhee  extended  from 
S.  22°  E.  to  S.  12°  W. ;  and  Mowee 
from  N.  41°  to  N.  83°  W.  Finding 
that  we  could  fetch  Owhyhee,  I  stood 
for  it ;  and  our  visitors  from  Mowee, 
not  choosing  to  accompany  us,  em- 
barked in  their  canoe  and  went  ashore. 
At  seven  in  the  evening  we  were  close 
up  with  the  north  side  of  Owhyhee, 

1  Better  knoT^n  as  Hawaii;  it  is 
the  largest  of  the  group.  Mowee  is 
marked  in  the  later  maps  as  Maue 
Honolulu,  the  seat  of  government,  is 
on  the  Island  of  Oahu,  which  in  his 
former  notice  of  the  Sandwich  Islands 
Cook  merely  mentions  under  the  name 
of  Woahoo  (Book  III.,  Chapter  XII.). 


where  we  spent  the  night  standing,  off 
and  on.  In  the  morning  of  the  2d 
we  were  surprised  to  see  the  summits 
of  the  mountains  on  Owhyhee  covered 
with  snow.  They  did  not  appear  to 
be  of  any  extraordinary  height ;  and 
yet  in  some  places  the  snow  seemed 
to  be  of  a  considerable  depth,  and  to 
have  lain  there  some  time.  As  we 
drew  near  the  shore  some  of  the  natives 
came  off  to  us.  They  were  a  little  shy 
at  first ;  but  we  soon  enticed  some  of 
them  on  board,  and  at  last  prevailed 
upon  them  to  return  to  the  island  and 
bring  off  what  we  wanted.  Soon  after 
these  reached  the  shore,  we  had  com- 
pany enough,  and  few  coming  empty- 
handed,  we  got  a  tolerable  supply  of 
small  pigs,  fruit,  and  roots.  We  con- 
tinued trading  with  them  till  six  in 
the  evening,  when  we  made  sail  and 
stood  off,  with  a  view  of  plying  to  wind- 
ward round  the  island.  The  currenl 
which  I  have  mentioned  as  setting  to 
the  eastward  had  now  ceased  ;  for  we 
gained  but  little  by  plying.  On  the 
6th,  in  the  evening,  being  about  five 
leagues  farther  up  the  coast,  and  near 
the  shore,  we  had  some  traffic  with 
the  natives.  But  as  it  had  furnished 
only  a  trifling  supply,  I  stood  in  again 
the  next  morning,  when  we  had  a 
considerable  number  of  visitors  ;  and 
we  lay  to,  trading  with  them,  till  two 
in  the  afternoon.  By  that  time  we  had 
procured  pork,  fruit,  and  roots  suffi- 
cient for  four  or  five  days.  We  then 
made  sail  and  continued  to  ply  to 
windward. 

Having  procured  a  quantity  of 
sugar-cane,  and  having  upon  a  trial 
made  but  a  few  days  before  found 
that  a  strong  decoction  of  it  produced 
a  very  palatable  beer,  I  ordered  some 
more  to  be  brewed  for  our  general  use. 
But  when  the  cask  was  now  broached 
not  one  of  my  crew  would  even  so 
much  as  taste  it.  As  I  had  no  motive 
in  preparing  this  beverage  but  to  save 
our  spirit  for  a  colder  climate,  I  gave 
myself  no  trouble,  either  by  exerting 
authority  or  by  having  recourse  to 
persuasion,  to  prevail  upon  them  to 
drink  it,  knowing  that  there  was  no 
danger  of  the  scurvy  so  long  as  we 
could  get  a  plentiful  supply  of  other 


DEC.  1778.]    EFFORTS  TO  PRESERVE  HEALTH  OF  CREWS.        331 


vegetables.  But  that  I  migiit  not 
be  disappointed  in  my  views,  I  gave 
orders  that  no  grog  should  be  served 
in  either  ship.  I  myself  and  the 
officers  continued  to  make  use  of  this 
sugar-cane  beer  whenever  we  could 
get  materials  for  brewing  it.  A  few 
hops,  of  which  we  had  some  on  board, 
improved  it  much.  It  has  the  taste 
of  new  malt  beer,  and  I  believe  no 
one  will  doubt  of  its  being  very  whole- 
some. And  yet  my  inconsiderate  crew 
alleged  that  it  was  injurious  to  their 
health.  They  had  no  better  reason  to 
support  a  resolution  which  they  took 
on  our  first  arrival  in  King  George's 
[Nootka]  Sound,  not  to  drink  the 
spruce-beer  made  there.  But  whether 
from  a  consideration  that  it  was  not 
the  first  time  of  their  being  required 
to  use  that  liquor,  or  from  some  other 
reason,  they  did  not  attempt  to  carry 
their  purpose  into  actual  execution ; 
and  I  had  never  heard  of  it  till  now, 
when  they  renewed  their  ignorant  op- 
position to  my  best  endeavours  to  serve 
them.  Every  innovation  whatever  on 
board  a  ship,  though  ever  so  much  to 
the  advantage  of  seamen,  is  sure  to 
meet  with  their  highest  disapproba- 
tion. Both  portable  soup  and  sour 
krout 1  were  at  first  condemned  as 
stuff  unfit  for  human  beings.  Few 
commanders  have  introduced  into 
their  ships  more  novelties,  as  useful 
varieties  of  food  and  drink,  than  I  have 
done.  Indeed  few  commanders  have 
had  the  same  opportunities  of  trying 
such  experiments,  or  been  driven  to 
the  same  necessity  of  trying  them.  It 
has,  however,  been  in  a  great  measure 
owing  to  various  little  deviations  from 
established  practice  that  I  have  been 
able  to  preserve  my  people,  generally 
speaking,  from  that  dreadful  dis- 
temper the  scurvy,  which  has  perhaps 


1  Cook  on  his  second  voyage  took 
a  quantity  of  this  with.  him.  He  de- 
scribes it  as  cabbage  cut  small,  to  which 
ia  put  a  little  salt,  juniper-berries, 
and  aniseed  ;  it  is  then  fermented, 
and  close  packed  in  casks,  where  it 
will  keep  a  long  time,  retaining  its 
virtues  as  a  wholesome  vegetable  food 
.tnd  a  great  anti-scorbutic. 


destroyed  more  of  our  sailors  in  their 
peaceful  voyages  than  have  fallen  by 
the  enemy  in  military  expeditions. 

I  kept  at  some  distance  from  the 
coast  till  the  13th,  when  I  stood  in 
again  six  leagues  farther  to  windward 
than  we  had  as  yet  reached ;  and  after 
having  some  trade  with  the  natives 
who  visited  us,  returned  to  sea.  I 
should  have  got  near  the  shore  again 
on  the  15th  for  a  .supply  of  fruit  or 
roots,  but  the  wind  happening  to  he 
at  SE.  by  S.  and  SSE.,  I  thought  this 
a  good  time  to  stretch  to  the  eastward, 
in  order  to  get  round,  or  at  least  to 
get  a  sight  of  the  south-east  end  of 
the  island.  The  wind  continued  at 
SE.  by  S.  most  part  of  the  16th.  It 
was  variable  between  S.  and  E.  on 
the  17th,  and  on  the  18th  it  was  con- 
tinually veering  from  one  quarter  to 
another,  blowing  sometimes  in  hard 
squalls,  and  at  other  times  calm,  with 
thunder,  lightning,  and  rain.  In  the 
afternoon  we  had  the  wind  westerly 
for  a  few  hours,  but  in  the  evening  it 
shifted  to  E.  by  S.,  and  we  stood  to 
the  southward  close-hauled,  under  an 
easy  sail,  as  the  Discovery  was  at  some 
distance  astern.  At  this  time  the 
south-east  point  of  the  island  bore 
SW.  by  S.,  about  five  leagues  dis- 
tant ;  and  I  made  no  doubt  that  I 
should  be  able  to  weather  it.  But  at 
1  o'clock  next  morning  it  fell  calm, 
and  we  were  left  to  the  mercy  of  a 
north-easterly  swell  which  impelled 
us  fast  toward  the  land  ;  so  that  long 
before  daybreak  we  saw  lights  upon 
the  shore,  which  was  not  more  than  a 
league  distant.  The  night  was  dark, 
with  thunder,  lightning,  and  rain. 

At  3  o'clock  the  calm  was  succeeded 
by  a  breeze  from  E.  blowing  in  squalls, 
with  rain.  "We  stood  to  the  NE., 
thinking  it  the  best  tack  to  clear  the 
coast ;  but  if  it  had  been  daylight, 
we  should  have  chosen  the  other.  At 
daybreak  the  coast  was  seen  extend- 
ing from  N.  by  W.  to  SW.  by  W.,  a 
dreadful  surf  breaking  upon  the  shore, 
which  was  not  more  than  half-a-league 
distant.  It  was  evident  that  we  had 
been  in  the  most  imminent  danger. 
Nor  were  we  yet  in  safety,  the  wind 
veering  more  easterly,  so  that  for  some 


312 

time  we  did  but  just  keep  our  distance 
from  the  coast.  What  made  our  situ- 
ation more  alarming  was  the  leach- 
rope  of  the  main-topsail  giving  way, 
which  was  the  occasion  of  the  sail's 
being  rent  in  two  ;  and  the  two  top- 
gallant-sails gave  way  in  the  same 
manner,  though  not  half  worn  out. 
By  taking  a  favourable  opportunity, 
we  soon  got  others  to  the  yards,  and 
then  we  left  the  land  astern.  The 
Discovery,  by  being  at  some  distance 
to  the  north,  was  never  near  the  land, 
nor  did  we  see  her  till  8  o'clock. 

As  soon  as  daylight  appeared  the 
natives  ashore  displayed  a  white  flag, 
which  we  conceived  to  be  a  signal  of 
peace  and  friendship.  Some  of  them 
ventured  out  after  us,  but  the  wind 
freshening,  and  it  not  being  safe  to 
wait,  they  were  soon  left  astern.  In 
the  afternoon,  after  making  another 
attempt  to  weather  the  eastern  ex- 
treme, which  failed,  I  gave  it  up  and 
ran  down  to  the  Discovery.  Indeed 
it  was  of  no  consequence  to  get  round 
the  island,  for  we  had  seen  its  extent 
to  the  south-east,  which  was  the  tiling 
I  aimed  at ;  and  according  to  the  in- 
formation which  we  had  got  from  the 
natives,  there  is  no  other  island  to  the 
windward  of  this.  However,  as  we 
were  so  near  the  south  end  of  it,  and 
as  the  least  shift  of  wind  in  our  favour 
would  serve  to  carry  us  round,  I  did 
not  wholly  give  up  the  idea  of  weather- 
ing it,  and  therefore  continued  to  ply. 
On  the  20th  at  noon  this  south-east 
point  bore  S.  three  leagues  distant, 
the  snowy  hills  WNW.,  and  we  were 
about  four  miles  from  the  nearest 
shore.  In  the  afternoon  some  of  the 
natives  came  in  their  canoes,  bring- 
ing with  them  a  few  pigs  and  plan- 
tains. The  latter  were  very  acceptable, 
having  had  no  vegetables  for  some 
days ;  but  the  supply  we  now  received 
was  so  inconsiderable,  being  barely 
sufficient  for  one  day,  that  I  stood  in 
again  the  next  morning  till  within 
three  or  four  miles  of  the  land,  where 
we  were  met  by  a  number  of  canoes 
laden  with  provisions.  "We  brought 
to  and  continued  trading  with  the 
people  in  them  till  four  in  the  after- 
noon, when,  having  got  a  pretty  good 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.    [ VOY.  I II.  B.  IV.  CH.  VIL 


supply,  we  made  sail  and  stretched  off 
to  the  northward. 

I  had  never  met  with,  a  behaviour 
so  free  from  reserve  and  suspicion  in 
my  intercourse  with  any  tribes  of 
savages  as  we  experienced  in  the 
people  of  this  island.  It  was  very 
common  for  them  to  send  up  into  the 
ship  the  several  articles  they  brought 
off  for  barter ;  afterwards  they  would 
come  in  themselves  and  make  their 
bargains  on  the  quarter-deck.  The 
people  of  Otaheite,  even  after  our 
repeated  visits,  do  not  care  to  put  so 
much  confidence  in  us.  I  infer  from 
this  that  those  of  Owhyhee  must  be 
more  faithful  in  their  dealings  with 
one  another  than  the  inhabitants  of 
Otaheite  are.  For  if  little  faith  were 
observed  amongst  themselves  they 
would  not  be  so  ready  to  trust  stran- 
gers. It  is  also  to  be  observed,  to 
their  honour,  that  they  had  never 
once  attempted  to  cheat  us  in  ex- 
changes, nor  to  commit  a  theft.  They 
understand  trading  as  well  as  most 
people,  and  seemed  to  comprehend 
clearly  the  reason  of  our  plying  upon 
the  coast.  For  though  they  brought 
off  provisions  in  great  plenty,  particu- 
larly- pigs,  yet  they  kept  up  their 
price ;  and  rather  than  dispose  of  them 
for  less  than  they  thought  they  were 
worth,  would  take  them  ashore  again. 

On  the  22d,  at  eight  in  the  morn- 
ing, we  tacked  to  the  southward,  with 
a  fresh  breeze  at  E.  by  N.  At  noon 
the  Latitude  was  20°  28'  30",  and  the 
snowy  peak  bore  SW.  half  S.  We 
had  a  good  view  of  it  the  preceding 
day,  and  the  quantity  of  snow  seemed 
to  have  increased  and  to  extend  lower 
down  the  hiU.  I  stood  to  the  SE. 
till  midnight,  then  tacked  to  the  N. 
till  four  in  the  morning,  when  we  re- 
turned to  the  SE.  tack ;  and  as  the 
wind  was  at  NE.  by  E. ,  we  had  hopes 
of  weathering  the  island.  We  should 
have  succeeded  if  the  wind  had  not 
died  away  and  left  us  to  the  mercy  of 
a  great  swell,  which  carried  us  fast 
toward  the  land,  which  was  not  two 
leagues  distant.  At  length  we  got 
our  head  off,  and  some  light  puffs  of 
wind,  which  came  with  showers  of 
rain,  put  us  out  of  danger.  While 


DEC.  1778.]  RESOLUTION  GETS  TO 
we  lay,  as  it  were,  becalmed,  several 
of  the  islanders  came  off  with  hogs, 
fowls,  fruit,  and  roots.  ^  Out  of  one 
canoe  we  got  a  goose,  which  was  about 
the  size  of  a  Muscovy  duck ;  its  plum- 
age was  dark  grey,  and  the  bill  and 
legs  black. 

At  four  in  the  afternoon,  after  pur- 
chasing everything  that  the  natives 
had  brought  off,  which  was  full  as 
much  as  we  had  occasion  for,  we  made 
sail  and  stretched  to  the  N.,  with  the 
wind  at  ENE.  At  midnight  we  tacked 
and  stood  to  the  SE.  Upon  a  suppo- 
sition that  the  Discovery  would  see 
us  tack,  the  signal  was  omitted  ;  but 
she  did  not  see  us,  as  we  afterwards 
found,  and  continued  standing  to  the 
N.,  for  at  daylight  next  morning  she 
was  not  in  sight.  At  this  time,  the 
weather  being  hazy,  we  could  not  see 
far,  so  that  it  was  possible  the  Dis- 
covery might  be  following  us;  and 
being  past  the  north-east  part  of  the 
island  I  was  tempted  to  stand  on  till, 
by  the  wind  veering  to  NE.,  we  could 
not  weather  the  land  upon  the  other 
tack.  Consequently  we  could  not 
stand  to  the  N.  to  join  or  look  for  the 
Discovery.  At  noon  we  were  by  ob- 
servation in  the  Latitude  of  19°  55' 
and  in  the  Longitude  of  205°  3' ;  the 
south-east  point  of  the  island  bore  S. 
by  E.  quarter  E. ,  six  leagues  distant ; 
the  other  extreme  bore  N.  60°  W., 
and  we  were  two  leagues  from  the 
nearest  shore.  At  six  in  the  evening 
the  southernmost  extreme  of  the  island 
bore  SW.,  the  nearest  shore  seven  or 
eight  miles  distant,  so  that  we  had 
now  succeeded  in  getting  to  the  wind- 
ward of  the  island,  which  we  had 
aimed  at  with  so  much  perseverance. 
The  Discovery,  however,  was  not  yet 
to  be  seen ;  but  the  wind,  as  we  had 
it,  being  very  favourable  for  her  to 
follow  us,  I  concluded  that  it  would 
not  be  long  before  she  joined  us.  I 
therefore  kept  cruising  off  this  south- 
east point  of  the  island,  which  lies  in 
the  Latitude  of  19°  34'  and  in  the 
Longitude  of  205°  6',  till  I  was  satis- 
fied that  Captain  Clerke  could  not 
ioin  me  here.  I  now  conjectured  that 
he  had  not  been  able  to  weather  the 
north-east  part  of  the  island,  and  had 


WINDWARD  OF  OWHYHEE.  313 

gone  to  leeward  in  order  to  meet  me 
that  way. 

As  I  generally  kept  from  five  to  ten 
leagues  from  the  land,  no  canoes  ex- 
cept one  came  off  to  us  till  the  28th, 
when  we  were  visited  by  a  dozen  or 
fourteen.  The  people  who  conducted 
them  brought,  as  usual,  the  produce 
of  the  island.  I  was  very  sorry  that 
they  had  taken  the  trouble  to  come 
so  far.  For  we  could  not  trade  with 
them,  our  old  stock  not  being  as  yet 
consumed ;  and  we  had  found  by  late 
experience  that  the  hogs  could  not  be 
kept  alive,  nor  the  roots  preserved 
from  putrefaction  many  days.  How- 
ever, I  intended  not  to  leave  this  part 
of  the  island  before  I  got  a  supply,  as 
it  would  not  be  easy  to  return  to  it 
again  in  case  it  should  be  found  neces- 
sary. We  began  to  be  in  want  on  the 
30th,  and  I  would  have  stood  in  near 
the  shore  but  was  prevented  by  a 
calm;  but  a  breeze  springing  up  at 
midnight  from  S.  and  SW.,  we  were 
enabled  to  stand  in  for  the  land  at 
daybreak.  At  1 0  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing we  were  met  by  the  islanders  with 
fruit  and  roots,  but  in  all  the  canoe? 
were  only  three  small  pigs.  Our  not 
having  bought  those  which  had  been 
lately  brought  off  may  be  supposed  to 
be  the  reason  of  this  very  scanty 
supply.  We  brought  to  for  the  pur- 
poses of  trade,  but  soon  after  our 
marketing  was  interrupted  by  a  very 
hard  rain,  and  besides  we  were  rather 
too  far  from  the  shore.  Nor  durst  1 
go  nearer,  for  I  could  not  depend  upon 
the  wind's  remaining  where  it  was  for 
a  moment ;  the  swell  also  being  high, 
and  setting  obliquely  upon  the  shore, 
against  which  it  broke  in  a  frightful 
surf.  In  the  evening  the  weather 
mended,  the  night  was  clear,  and  it 
was  spent  in  making  short  boards. 

Before  daybreak  the-  atmosphere 
was  again  loaded  with  heavy  clouds, 
and  the  New  Year  was  ushered  in 
with  very  hard  rain,  which  continued 
at  intervals  till  past  10  o'clock.  The 
wind  was  southerly,  a  light  breeze 
with  some  calms.  When  the  rain 
ceased,  the  sky  cleared  and  the  breeze 
freshened.  Being  at  this  time  about 
five  miles  from  the  land,  several 


314 


canoes  arrived  with  fruit  and  roots, 
and  at  last  some  hogs  were  brought 
off.  "We  lay  to,  trading  with  them, 
till  3  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  when, 
having  a  tolerable  supply,  we  made 
sail  with  a  view  of  proceeding  to  the 
north-west  or  leeside  of  the  island, 
to  look  for  the  Discovery.  It  was 
necessary,  however,  the  wind  being 
at  S. ,  to  stretch  first  to  the  eastward, 
till  midnight,  when  the  wind  came 
more  favourable,  and  we  went  upon 
the  other  tack.  For  several  days  past 
both  wind  and  weather  had  been  ex- 
ceedingly unsettled,  and  there  fell  a 
great  deal  of  rain.  The  three  follow- 
ing days  were  spent  in  running  down 
the  south-east  side  of  the  island.  For 
during  the  nights  we  stood  off  and  on, 
and  part  of  each  day  was  employed 
in  lying  to,  in  order  to  furnish  an 
opportunity  to  the  natives  of  trading 
with  us.  They  sometimes  came  on 
board  while  we  were  five  leagues  from 
the  shore ;  but  whether  from  a  fear 
of  losing  their  goods  in  the  sea,  or 
from  the  uncertainty  of  the  market, 
they  never  brought  much  with  them. 
The  principal  article  procured  was 
salt,  which  was  extremely  good. 

On  the  5th,  in  the  morning,  we 
passed  the  south  point  of  the  island, 
which  lies  in  the  Latitude  of  18°  54', 
and  beyond  it  we  found  the  coast  to 
trend  N.  60°  W.  On  this  point 
stands  a  pretty  large  village,  the  in- 
habitants of  which  thronged  off  to 
the  ship  with  hogs  and  women.  It 
was  not  possible  to  keep  the  latter 
from  coming  on  board ;  and  no  women 
I  ever  met  with  were  less  reserved. 
Indeed  it  appeared  to  me  that  they 
visited  us  with  no  other  view  than  to 
make  a  surrender  of  their  persons. 
As  I  had  now  got  a  quantity  of  salt, 
I  purchased  no  hogs  but  such  as  were 
fit  for  salting,  refusing  all  that  were 
under  size.  However  we  could  seldom 
get  any  above  fifty  or  sixty  pounds 
weight.  It  was  happy  for  us  that  we 
still  had  some  vegetables  on  board, 
for  we  now  received  few  such  produc- 
tions. Indeed  this  part  of  the  country, 
from  its  appearance,  did  not  seem 
capable  of  affording  them.  Marks  of 
its  having  been  laid  waste  by  the 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.      [VoY.  III.  B,  IV.  CH.  VII. 


explosion  of  a  volcano  everywhere 
presented  themselves ;  and  though 
we  had  as  yet  seen  nothing  like  one 
upon  the  island,  the  devastation  that 
it  had  made  in  this  neighbourhood 
was  visible  to  the  naked  eye.1  This 
part  of  the  coast  is  sheltered  from 
the  reigning  winds  ;  but  we  could 
find  no  bottom  to  anchor  upon,  a  line 
of  160  fathoms  not  reaching  it,  within 
the  distance  of  half -a -mile  from  the 
shore.  The  islanders  having  all  left 
us  towards  the  evening,  we  ran  a  few 
miles  down  the  coast,  and  then  spent 
the  night  standing  off  and  on. 

The  next  morning  the  natives  visited 
us  again,  bringing  with  them  the  same 
articles  of  commerce  as  before.  Being 
now  near  the  shore,  I  sent  Mr  Bligh, 
the  master,  in  a  boat  to  sound  the 
coast,  with  orders  to  land  and  to  look 
for  fresh  water.  Upon  his  return  he 
reported  that  at  two  cables'  length 
from  the  shore  he  had  found  no  sound- 
ings with  a  line  of  160  fathoms  ;  that 
when  he  landed  he  found  no  stream 
or  spring,  but  only  rain  water  de- 
posited in  holes  upon  the  rocks,  and 
even  that  was  brackish  from  the  spray 
of  the  sea ;  and  that  the  surface  of 
the  country  was  entirely  composed  of 
slags  and  ashes,  with  a  few  plants 
here  and  there  interspersed.  Between 
ten  and  eleven  we  saw  with  pleasure 
the  Discovery  coming  round  the  south 
point  of  the  island  ;  and  at  one  in  the 
afternoon  she  joined  us.  Captain 
Clerke  then  coming  on  board,  in- 
formed me  that  he  had  cruised  four 
or  five  days  where  we  were  separated, 
and  then  plied  round  the  east  side  of 
the  island  ;  but  that,  meeting  with 
unfavourable  winds,  he  had  been  car- 
ried to  some  distance  from  the  coast. 
He  had  one  of  the  islanders  on  board 
all  this  time,  who  had  remained  there 
from  choice,  and  had  refused  to  quit 
the  ship  though  opportunities  had 
offered.  Having  spent  the  night 
standing  off  and  on,  we  stood  in  again 


1  Several  volcanoes  are  still  active 
in  the  islands  ;  and  two  of  them, 
Morena  Loa  and  Morena  Kea,  rise  to 
the  very  respectable  altitude  of  some 
15,000  feet. 


JAN.  1779.]  YAST  CONCOUKSE 
the  next  morning,  and  when  we  were 
about  a  league  from  the  shore  many 
of  the  natives  visited  us. 

At  daybreak  on  the  8th  we  found 
that  the  currents  during  the  night, 
which  we  spent  in  plying,  had  carried 
us  back  considerably  to  windward  ; 
so  that  we  were  now  off  the  south- 
west point  of  the  island.  There  we 
brought  to,  in  order  to  give  the  na- 
tives an  opportunity  of  trading  with 
us.  "We  spent  the  night  as  usual, 
standing  off  and  on.  It  happened 
that  four  men  and  ten  women  who 
had  come  on  board  the  preceding  day 
still  remained  with  us.  As  I  did  not 
like  the  company  of  the  latter,  I 
stood  inshore  towards  noon,  princi- 
pally with  a  view  to  get  them  out  of 
the  ship,  and  some  canoes  coming  off 
I  took  that  opportunity  of  sending 
away  our  guests.  We  had  light  airs 
from  NW.  and  SW.,  and  calms,  till 
eleven  in  the  morning  of  the  10th, 
when  the  wind  freshened  at  WNW., 
which,  with  a  strong  current  setting 
to  the  SE.,  so  much  retarded  us  that 
in  the  evening  between  7  and  8  o'clock 
the  south  point  of  the  island  bore 
N.  104°  W.,  four  leagues  distant. 
The  south  snowy  hill  now  bore  N. 
U°E. 

4-t  four  in  the  morning  of  the  llth, 
the  wind  having  fixed  at  W.,  I  stood 
in  for  the  land  in  order  to  get  some 
refreshments.  As  we  drew  near  the 
shore  the  natives  began  to  come  off. 
We  lay  to,  or  stood  on  and  off,  trad- 
ing with  them  all  the  day,  but  got  a 
very  scanty  supply  at  last.  Many 
canoes  visited  us  whose  people  had 
not  a  single  thing  to  barter,  which 
convinced  us  that  this  part  of  the 
island  must  be  very  poor,  and  that 
we  had  already  got  all  that  they 
could  spare.  We  spent  the  12th  ply- 
ing off  and  on,  with  a  fresh  gale  at 
W.  A  mile  from  the  shore,  and  to  the 
NE.  of  the  south  point  of  the  island, 
having  tried  soundings,  we  found 
ground  at  fifty-five  fathoms  dej/th, 
the  bottom  a  fine  sand.  At  five  in 
the  evening  we  stood  to  the  SW., 
with  the  wind  at  WNW.,  and  soon 
after  midnight  we  had  a  calm.  At 
8  o'clock  next  morning,  having  got  a 


OF  THE  NATIVES. 


315 


small  breeze  at  SSE.,  WP  steered  to 
the  NNW.  in  for  the  land.  Soon 
after,  a  few  canoes  came  alongside 
with  some  hogs,  but  without  any 
vegetables,  which  articles  we  most 
wanted.  We  had  xiow  m-ade  some 
progress  ;  for  at  noon  the  south  point 
of  the  island  bore  S.  86  £°  E.,  the 
south-west  point  N.  13°  W.,  the 
nearest  shore  two  leagues  distant, 
Latitude  by  observation  18°  56',  and 
our  Longitude  by  the  timekeeper 
203°  40'.  We  had  got  the  length  of 
the  south-west  point  of  the  island  in 
the  evening  ;  but  the  wind  now  veer- 
ing to  the  westward  and  northward, 
during  the  night  we  lost  all  that  we 
had  gained.  Next  morning,  being 
still  off  the  south-west  point  of  the 
island,  some  canoes  came  off,  but  they 
brought  nothing  that  we  were  in  want 
of.  We  had  now  neither  fruit  nor 
roots,  and  were  under  a  necessity  of 
making  use  of  some  of  our  sea  provi- 
sions. At  length  some  canoes  from 
the  northward  brought  us  a  small 
supply  of  hogs  and  roots. 

We  had  variable  light  airs,  next  to 
a  calm,  the  following  day,  till  five  in 
the  afternoon,  when-  a  small  breeze 
at  ENE.  springing  up,  we  were  at 
last  enabled  to  steer  along  shore  to 
the  northward.  The  weather  being 
fine,  we  had  plenty  of  company  this 
day,  and  abundance  of  everything. 
Many  of  our  visitors  remained  with 
us  on  board  all  night,  and  we  towed 
their  canoes  astern.  At  daybreak  on 
the  16th,  seeing  the  appearance  of  a 
bay,  I  sent  Mr  Bligh,  with  a  boat 
from  each  ship,  to  examine  it,  being 
at  this  time  three  leagues  off.  Canoes 
now  began  to  arrive  from  all  parts,  so 
that  before  10  o'clock,  there  were  not 
fewer  than  a  thousand  about  the  two 
ships,  most  of  them  crowded  with 
people,  and  well  laden  with  hogs  and 
other  productions  of  the  island.  We 
had  the  most  satisfying  proof  of  their 
friendly  intentions,  for  we  did  not  see 
a  single  person  who  had  with  him  a 
weapon  of  any  sort.  Trade  and 
curiosity  alone  had  brought  them  off. 
Among  such  numbers  as  we  had  at 
times  on  board,  it  is  no  wonder  that 
some  should  betray  a  thievish  dia- 


316 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.      (Tor.  III.  B.  IV.  CH.  VII. 


position.  One  of  our  visitors  took  out 
of  the  ship  a  boat's  rudder.  He  was 
discovered,  but  too  late  to  recover  it. 
I  thought  this  a  good  opportunity  to 
show  these  people  the  use  of  fire-arms ; 
and  two  or  thrre  muskets,  and  as 
many  four-pounders  were  fired  over 
the  canoe  which  carried  off  the  rudder. 
As  it  was  not  intended  that  any  of 
the  shot  should  take  effect,  the  sur- 
rounding multitude  of  natives  seemed 
rather  more  surprised  than  frightened. 
In  the  evening,  Mr  Bligh  returned 
and  reported  that  he  had  found  a  bay 
in  which  was  good  anchorage  and 
fresh  water,  in  a  situation  tolerably 
easy  to  be  come 'at.  Into  this  bay  I 
resolved  to  carry  the  ships,  there  to 
refit  and  supply  ourselves  with  every 
refreshment  that  the  place  could 
afford.  As  night  approached,  the 
greater  part  of  our  visitors  retired  to 
the  shore ;  but  numbers  of  them  re- 
quested our  permission  to  sleep  on 
board.  Curiosity  was  not  the  only 
motive,  at  least  with  some ;  for  the 
next  morning  several  things  were 
missing,  which  determined  me  not  to 
enteitain  so  many  another  night. 

At  11  o'clock  in  the  forenoon  we 
anchored  in  the  bay  (which  is  called 
by  the  natives  Karakakooa),1  in  thir- 
teen fathoms  water,  over  a  sandy 
bottom,  and  about  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  from  the  north-east  shore.  In 
this  situation  the  south  point  of  the 
bay  bore  S.  by  W.,  and  the  north  point 
W.  half  JT.  We  moored  with  the 
stream  anchor  and  cable  to  the  north- 
ward, unbent  the  sails,  and  struck 
the  yards  and  topmasts.  The  ships 
continued  to  be  much  crowded  with 
natives,  and  were  surrounded  by  a 
multitude  of  canoes.  I  had  nowhere 
in  the  course  of  my  voyages,  seen  so 
numerous  a  body  of  people  assembled 
in  one  place.  For  besides  those  who 


1  It  lies  on  the  west  side  of  Owhy- 
liee  or  Hawaii,  near  the  southern 
extremity  of  the  island. 


had  come  off  to  us  in  canoes,  all  the 
shore  of  the  bay  was  covered  with 
spectators,  and  many  hundreds  were 
swimming  round  the  ships  like  shoals 
of  fish.  We  could  not  but  be  struck 
with  the  singularity  of  this  scene ; 
and  perhaps  there  were  few  on  board 
who  now  lamented  our  having  failed 
in  our  endeavours  to  find  a  northern 
passage  homeward  last  summer.  To 
this  disappointment  we  owed  our  hav- 
ing it  in  our  power  to  revisit  the 
Sandwich  Islands,  and  to  enrich  our 
voyage  with  a  discovery  which,  though 
the  last,  seemed  in  many  respects  to 
be  the  most  important  that  had 
hitherto  been  made  by  Europeans 
throughout  the  extent  of  the  Pacific 
Ocean.3 


8  With  these  ardently  confident  ex- 
pressions of  hopefulness,  and  of  most 
justifiable  satisfaction  in  the  past  and 
prospective  achievements  of  the  voy- 
age— so  vividly  in  contrast  with  the 
calamity  that  imminently  impended 
— Captain  Cook's  journal  closes.  The 
third  volume  of  the  Original  Edition, 
written  by  Captain  King,  and  consist- 
ing, with  appendices,  of  between  500 
and  600  pages  (equal  to  at  least  250 
pages  of  the  present  edition),  recounts 
in  two  books,  V.  and  VI.,  the  trans- 
actions on  returning  to  the  Sandwich 
Islands,"  and  the  "  transactions  dur- 
ing the  second  expedition  to  the  north 
by  the  way  of  Kamtschatka  ;  and  on 
the  return  home  by  the  way  of  Can- 
ton and  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope." 
As  the  death  of  Captain  Cook  dimin- 
ishes notably  the  interest  of  the  voyage 
in  its  sequel,  despite  the  elaborate 
and  curious  descriptions  of  Kamts- 
chatka and  the  Kamtschadales — and 
as  there  is  little  or  nothing  in  the 
homeward  route,  that  has  not  been 
perhaps  more  vividly  described  in  the 
narratives  of  the  older  navigators, — 
only  that  part  of  Captain  King's  vol- 
ume is  here  given,  which  relates  to  the 
mournful  events  in  Karakakooa  Bay. 


JAN.  1779.]        DESCRIPTION  OF  KARAKAKOOA  BAY. 


317 


BOOK     V. 

CAPTAIN   KING'S   JOURNAL   OP   THE    TRANSACTIONS   ON   RETURNING 
TO    THE    SANDWICH    ISLANDS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

KARAKAKOOA  Bay  is  situated  on  the 
west  side  of  the  Island  of  Owhyhee, 
in  a  district  called  Akona.  It  is 
about  a  mile  in  depth,  and  bounded 
by  two  low  points  of  land  at  the  dis- 
tance of  half-a-league,  and  bearing 
SSE.  and  NNW.  from  each  other. 
On  the  north  point,  which  is  flat  and 
barren,  stands  the  village  of  Kow- 
rowa,  and  in  the  bottom  of  the  bay, 
near  a  grove  of  tall  cocoa-nut  trees, 
there  is  another  village  of  a  more 
considerable  size  "called  Kakooa  :  be- 
tween them  runs  a  high  rocky  cliff, 
inaccessible  from  the  sea  shore.  On 
the  south  side,  the  coast,  for  about  a 
mile  inland,  has  a  rugged  appearance ; 
beyond  which  the  country  rises  with 
a  gradual  ascent,  and  is  overspread 
with  cultivated  enclosures  and  groves 
of  cocoa-nut  trees,  where  the  habita- 
tions of  the  natives  are  scattered  in 
great  numbers.  The  shore  all  around 
.  the  bay  is  covered  with  a  black  coral 
rock,  which  makes  the  landing  very 
dangerous  in  rough  weather ;  except 
at  the  village  of  Kakooa,  where  there 
is  a  fine  sandy  beach,  with  a  "  morai," 
or  burying-place,  at  one  extremity, 
and  a  small  well  of  fresh  water  at  the 
other.  This  bay  appearing  to  Cap- 
tain Cook  a  proper  place  to  refit  the 
ships,  and  lay  in  an  additional  supply 
of  water  and  provisions,  we  moored  on 
the  north  side,  about  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  from  the  shore,  Kowrowa  bear- 
ing NW. 

As  soon  as  the  inhabitants  perceived 
our  intention  of  anchoring  in  the  bay, 
they  came  off  from  the  shore  in  aston- 
ishing numbers,  and  expressed  their 
joy  by  singing  and  shouting  and 
exhibiting  a  variety  of  wild  and  ex- 
travagant gestures.  The  sides,  the 
decks,  and  rigging  of  both  ships  were 
soon  completely  covered  with  them  ; 


and  a  multitude  of  women  and  boys, 
who  had  not  been  able  to  get  canoes, 
came  swimming  round  us  in  shoals, 
many  of  whom,  not  finding  room  on 
board,  remained  the  whole  day  play- 
ing in  the  water.  Among  the  chiefs 
who  came  on  board  the  Resolution 
was  a  young  man  called  Pareea,  whom 
we  soon  perceived  to  be  a  person  of 
great  authority.  On  presenting  him- 
self to  Captain  Cook,  he  told  him 
that  he  was  Jakanee1  to  the  King  of 
the  island,  who  was  at  that  time 
engaged  on  a  military  expedition  at 
Mowee,  and  was  expected  to  return 
within  three  or  four  days.  A  few 
presents  from  Captain  Cook  attached 
mm  entirely  to  our  interests,  and  he 
became  exceedingly  useful  to  us  in 
the  management  of  his  countrymen, 
as  we  had  soon  occasion  to  experience. 
For  we  had  not  been  long  at  anchor 
when  it  was  observed  that  the  Dis- 
covery had  such  a  number  of  people 
hanging  on  one  side,  as  occasioned 
her  to  heel  considerably ;  and  that 
the  men  were  unable  to  keep  off  the 
crowds  which  continued  pressing  into 
her.  Captain  Cook,  being  apprehen- 
sive that  she  might  suffer  some  injury, 
pointed  out  the  danger  to  Pareea,  who 
immediately  went  to  their  assistance, 
cleared  the  ship  of  its  incumbrances, 
and  drove  away  the  canoes  that  sur- 
rounded her. 

The  authority  of  the  chiefs  over  the 
inferior  people  appeared  from  this 
incident  to  be  of  the  most  despotic 
kind.  A  similar  instance  of  it  hap- 
pened the  same  day  on  board  the  Re- 
solution, where  the  crowd  being  so 

1  "We  afterward  met  with  several 
others  of  the  same  denomination  ;  but 
whether  it  be  an  office,  or  some  de- 
gree of  affinity,  we  could  never  learn 
with  certainty. — Note  in  Original  Edi~ 


S18 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.  [VoY.  III.  B.  V.  Cn.  I. 


great  as  to  impede  the  necessary  busi- 
ness of  the  ship,  we  were  obliged  to 
have  recourse  to  the  assistance  of 
Kaneena,  another  of  their  chiefs,  who 
had  likewise  attached  himself  to  Cap- 
tain Cook.  The  inconvenience  we 
laboured  under  being  made  known, 
he  immediately  ordered  his  country- 
men to  quit  the  vessel ;  and  we  were 
not  a  little  surprised  to  see  them 
jump  overboard  without  a  moment's 
hesitation,  all  except  one  man,  who 
loitering  behind  and  showing  some 
unwillingness  to  obey,  Kaneena  took 
him  up  in  his  arms  and  threw  him 
into  the  sea.  Both  these  chiefs  were 
men  of  strong  and  well-proportioned 
bodies,  and  of  countenances  remark- 
ably pleasing.  Kaneena  especially 
was  one  of  the  finest  men  I  ever  saw. 
He  was  about  six  feet  high,  had 
regular  and  expressive  features,  with 
lively,  dark  eyes ;  his  carriage  was 
easy,  firm,  and  graceful. 

It  has  been  already  mentioned  that 
during  our  long  cruise  oif  this  island 
the  inhabitants  had  always  behaved 
with  great  fairness  and  honesty  in 
their  dealings,  and  had  not  shown 
the  slightest  propensity  to  theft ; 
which  appeared  to  us  the  more  ex- 
traordinary, because  those  with  whom 
we  had  hitherto  held  any  intercourse 
were  of  the  lowest  rank,  either  ser- 
vants or  fisherman.  We  now  found 
the  case  exceedingly  altered.  The 
immense  crowd  of  islanders  which 
blocked  up  every  part  of  the  ships, 
not  only  afforded  frequent  opportunity 
of  pilfering  without  risk  of  discovery, 
but  our  inferiority  in  number  held 
forth  a  prospect  of  escaping  with  im- 
punity in  case  of  detection.  Another 
circumstance  to  which  we  attributed 
this  alteration  in  their  behaviour, 
was  the  presence  and  encouragement 
of  their  chiefs  ;  for,  generally  tracing 
the  booty  into  the  possession  of  some 
men  of  consequence,  we  had  the 
strongest  reason  to  suspect  that  these 
depredations  were  committed  at  their 
instigation. 

Soon  after  the  Resolution  had  got 
into  her  station,  our  two  friends, 
Pareea  and  Kaneena,  brought  on  board 
a  tiurd  chief  named  Kouh,  who,  we 


were  told,  was  a  priest,  and  had  nrcn 
in  his  youth  a  distinguished  warrior. 
He  was  a  little  old  man,  of  an  emaci- 
ated figure ;  his  eyes  exceedingly 
sore  and  red,  and  his  body  covered 
with  a  white  leprous  scurf,  the  effects 
of  an  immoderate  use  of  the  "ava." 
Being  led  into  the  cabin,  he  ap- 
proached Captain  Cook  with  great 
veneration,  and  threw  over  his  shoul- 
ders a  piece  of  red  cloth  which  he  had 
brought  along  with  him.  Then  step- 
ping a  few  paces  back,  he  made  an 
offering  of  a  small  pig  which  he  held 
in  his  hand,  whilst  he  pronounced  a 
discourse  that  lasted  for  a  consider- 
able time.  This  ceremony  was  fre- 
quently repeated  during  our  stay  at 
Owhyhee,  and  appeared  to  us  from 
many  circumstances  to  be  a  sort  of 
religious  adoration.  Their  idols  we 
found  always  arrayed  with  red  cloth 
in  the  same  manner  as  was  done  to 
Captain  Cook  ;  and  a  small  pig  was 
their  usual  offering  to  the  "  Eatooas." 
Their  speeches,  or  prayers,  were 
uttered,  too,  with  a  readiness  and 
volubility  that  indicated  them  to  be 
according  to  some  formulary.  When 
this  ceremony  was  over,  Koah  dined 
with  Captain  Cook,  eating  plentifully 
of  what  was  set  before  him  ;  but,  like 
the  rest  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
islands  in  these  seas,  could  scarcely 
be  prevailed  on  to  taste  a  second  time 
our  wine  or  spirits.  In  the  evening, 
Captain  Cook,  attended  by  Mr  Bayly 
and  myself,  accompanied  him  on 
shore.  We  landed  at  the  beach,  and 
were  received  by  four  men  who  carried 
wands  tipped  with  dog's  hair,  -and 
marched  before  us,  pronouncing  with 
a  loud  voice  a  short  sentence,  in 
which  we  could  only  distinguish  the 
word  "Orono."1  The  crowd  which 


1  Captain  Cook  generally  went  by  this 
name  amongst  the  natives  of  Owhyhee ; 
but  we  could  never  learn  its  precise 
meaning.  Sometimes  they  applied  it 
to  an  invisible  being,  who,  they  said, 
lived  in  the  heavens.  We  also  found 
that  it  was  a  title  belonging  to  a  per- 
sonage of  great  rank  and  power  in 
the  island,  who  resembles  pretty 
much  the  Delai  Lama  of  the  Tartars, 


JAN.  1779.]         CEREMONIES  AT  COOK'S  LANDING. 


had  been  collected  on  the  shore  re- 
tired at  our  approach,  and  not  a  per- 
son was  to  be  seen,  except  a  few  lying 
prostrate  on  the  ground  near  the  huts 
of  the  adjoining  village. 

Before  I  proceed  to  relate  the 
adoration  that  was  paid  to  Captain 
Cook,  and  the  peculiar  ceremonies 
with  which  he  was  received  on  this 
fatal  island,  it  will  be  necessary  to 
describe  the  "morai,"  situated,  as  I 
have  already  mentioned,  at  the  south 
side  of  the  beach  at  Kakooa.  It  was 
a  square,  solid  pile  of  stones,  about 
forty  yards  long,  twenty  broad,  and 
fourteen  in  height.  The  top  was  flat 
and  well-paved,  and  surrounded  by  a 
wooden  rail,  on  which  were  fixed  the 
sculls  of  the  captives  sacrificed  on  the 
death  of  their  chiefs.  In  the  centre 
of  the  area  stood  a  ruinous  old  build- 
ing of  wood,  connected  with  the  rail 
on  each  side  by  a  stone  wall  which 
divided  the  whole  space  into  two 
parts.  On  the  side  next  the  country 
were  five  poles,  upward  of  twenty  feet 
high,  supporting  an  irregular  kind  of 
scaffold ;  on  the  opposite  side,  towards 
the  sea,  stood  two  small  houses  with 
a  covered  communication. 

We  were  conducted  by  Koah  to  the 
top  of  this  pile  by  an  easy  ascent 
leading  from  the  beach  to  the  north- 
west corner  of  the  area.  At  the  en- 
trance we  saw  two  large  wooden 
images,  with  features  violently  dis- 
torted, and  a  long  piece  of  carved 
wood,  of  a  conical  form  inverted, 
rising  from  the  top  of  their  heads ; 
the  rest  was  without  form,  and  wrap- 
ped round  with  red  cloth.  We  were 
here  met  by  a  tall  young  man  with  a 
long  beard,  who  presented  Captain 
Cook  to  the  images,  and  after  chant- 
ing a  kind  of  hymn,  in  which  he  was 
joined  by  Koah,  they  led  us  to  that 
end  of  the  "morai"  where  the  five 
poles  were  fixed.  At  the  foot  of  them 
were  twelve  images  ranged  in  a  semi- 
circular form,  and  before  the  middle 
figure  stood  a  high  stand  or  table, 
exactly  resembling  the  "whatta"  of 
Otaheite,  on  which  lay  a  putrid  hog, 


and  the  Ecclwriagtacal    Emperor    of 


319 

and  under  it  pieces  of  sugar-cane, 
cocoa-nuts,  bread-fruit,  plantains,  and 
sweet  potatoes.  Koah  having  placed 
the  Captain  under  this  stand,  took 
down  the  hog  and  held  it  toward 
him ;  and  after  having  a  second  time 
addressed  him  in  a  long  speech,  pro- 
nounced with  much  vehemence  and 
rapidity,  he  let  it  fall  on  the  ground, 
and  led  him  to  the  scaffolding,  which 
they  began  to  climb  together,  not 
without  great  risk  of  falling.  At  this 
time  we  saw,  coming  in  solemn  pro- 
cession, at  the  entrance  of  the  top  of 
the  "morai,"  ten  men  carrying  a 
live  hog  and  a  large  piece  of  red  cloth. 
Being  advanced  a  few  paces,  they 
stopped  and  -  prostrated  themselves  ; 
and  Kaireekeea,  the  young  man 
above  mentioned,  went  to  them,  and 
receiving  the  cloth,  carried  it  to  Koah, 
who  wrapped  it  round  the  Captain, 
and  afterwards  offered  him  the  hog, 
which  was  brought  by  Kaireekeea, 
with  the  same  ceremony. 

Whilst  Captain  Cook  was  aloft  in 
this  awkward  situation,  swathed  round 
with  red  cloth,  and  with  difficulty 
keeping  his  hold  amongst  the  pieces 
of  rotten  scaffolding,  Kaireekeea  and 
Koah  began  their  office,  chanting 
sometimes  in  concert,  and  sometimes 
alternately.  This  lasted  a  consider- 
able time ;  at  length  Koah  let  the 
hog  drop,  when  he  and  the  Captain 
descended  together.  He  then  led  him 
to  the  images  before  mentioned,  and 
having  said  something  to  each  in  a 
sneering  tone,  snapping  his  fingers  at 
them  as  he  passed,  he  brought  him 
to  that  in  the  centre,  which,  from  its 
being  covered  with  red  cloth,  appeared 
to  be  in  greater  estimation  than  the 
rest.  Before  this  figure  he  prostrated 
himself,  and  kissed  it,  desiring 
Captain  Cook  to  do  the  same,  who 
suffered  himself  to  be  directed  by 
Koah  throughout  the  whole  of  this 
ceremony.  We  were  now  led  back 
into  the  other  division  of  the  "morai," 
where  there  was  a  space  ten  or  twelve 
feet  square,  sunk  about  three  feet 
below  the  level  of  the  area.  Into 
this  we  descended,  and  Captain  Cook 
was  seated  between  two  wooden  idols, 


Japan. — Mote  in  Oriyiual  Edition.       \  Koah   supporting  one    oi   iiis   anus, 


320 


COOK'S  VOYAGES, 


OY.  HI.  B.  V.  CH. 


whilst  I  was  desired  to  support  the 
other.  At  this  time  arrived  a  second 
procession  of  natives,  carrying  a 
baked  hog  and  a  pudding,  some 
bread-fruit,  cocoa-nuts,  and  other 
vegetables.  When  they  approached 
us,  Kaireekeea  put  himself  at  their 
head,  and  presenting  the  pig  to  Cap- 
tain Cook  in  the  usual  manner,  began 
the  same  kind  of  chant  as  before,  his 
companions  making  regular  responses. 
We  observed  that  after  every  response 
their  parts  became  gradually  shorter, 
till  towards  the  close  Kaireekeea's 
consisted  of  only  two  or  three  words, 
which  the  rest  answered  by  the  word 
"Orono." 

When  this  offering  was  concluded, 
which  lasted  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  the 
natives  sat  down  fronting  us,  and 
began  to  cut  up  the  baked  hog,  to 
peel  the  vegetables,  and  break  the 
cocoa  -  nuts  ;  whilst  others  employed 
themselves  in  brewing  the  "ava," 
which  is  done  by  chewing  it  in  the 
same  manner  as  at  the  Friendly 
Islands.  Kaireekeea  then  took  part 
of  the  kernel  of  a  cocoa-nut,  which 
he  chewed,  and  wrapping  it  in  a  piece 
of  cloth,  rubbed  with  it  the  Captain's 
face,  head,  hands,  arms,  and  shoul- 
ders. The  "ava"  was  then  handed 
round,  and  after  we  had  tasted  it, 
Koah  and  Pareea  began  to  pull  the 
flesh  of  the  hog  in  pieces,  and  to  put  it 
into  our  mouths.  I  had  no  great  objec- 
tion to  being  fed  by  Pareea,  who  was 
very  cleanly  in  his  person  ;  but  Cap- 
tain Cook,  who  was  served  by  Koah, 
recollecting  the  putrid  hog,  could  not 
swallow  a  morsel  ;  and  his  reluctance, 
as  may  be  supposed,  was  not  dimin- 
ished, when  the  old  man,  according 
to  his  own  mode  of  civility,  had 
chewed  it  for  him.  When  this  last 
ceremony  was  finished,  which  Cap- 
tain Cook  put  an  end  to  as  soon  as 
he  decently  could,  we  quitted  the 
"  morai,  "  after  distributing  amongst 
the  people  some  pieces  of  iron  and 
other  trifles,  with  which  they  seemed 
highly  gratified.  The  men  with 
wands  conducted  us  to  the  boats, 
repeating  the  same  words  as  before. 
The  people  again  retired,  and  the  few 
that  remained  prostrated  themselves 


as  we  passed  along  the  shore.  We 
immediately  went  on  board,  our  minds 
full  of  what  we  had  seen,  and  ex- 
tremely well  satisfied  with  the  good 
dispositions  of  our  new  friends.  The 
meaning  of  the  various  ceremonies 
with  which  we  had  been  received,  and 
which,  on  account  of  their  novelty 
and  singularity,  have  been  related  at 
length,  can  only  be  the  subject  of 
conjectures,  and  those  uncertain  and 
partial ;  they  were,  however,  without 
doubt,  expressive  of  high  respect  on 
the  part  of  the  natives,  and  as  far  as 
related  to  the  person  of  Captain  Cook 
they  seemed  approaching  to  adora- 
tion. 

The  next  morning  I  went  on  shore 
with  a  guard  of  eight  marines,  includ- 
ing the  corporal  and  lieutenant, 
having  orders  to  erect  the  observatory 
in  such  a  situation  as  might  best 
enable  me  to  superintend  and  protect 
the  waterers  and  the  other  working 
parties  that  were  to  be  on  shore.  As 
we  were  viewing  a  spot  conveniently 
situated  for  this  purpose  in  the  middle 
of  the  village,  Pareea,  who  was  always 
ready  to  show  both  his  power  and  his 
goodwill,  offered  to  pull  down  some 
houses  that  would  have  obstructed  our 
observations.  However,  we  thought 
it  proper  to  decline  this  offer,  and 
fixed  on  a  field  of  sweet  potatoes  ad- 
joining to  the  "morai,"  which  was 
readily  granted  us ;  and  the  priests,  to 
prevent  the  intrusion  of  the  natives, 
immediately  consecrated  the  place  by 
fixing  their  wands  round  the  wall  by 
which  it  was  enclosed.  This  sort  of 
religious  interdiction  they  call  "ta- 
boo," a  word  we  heard  often  repeated 
during  our  stay  amongst  these  island- 
ers, and  found  to  be  of  very  powerful 
and  extensive  operation.  It  procured 
us  even  more  privacy  than  we  desired. 
No  canoes  ever  presumed  to  land 
near  us ;  the  natives  sat  on  the  wall, 
but  none  offered  to  come  within  the 
tabooed  space  till  he  had  obtained  our 
permission.  But  though  the  men,  at 
our  request,  would  come  across  the 
field  with  provisions,  yet  not  all  our 
endeavours  could  prevail  on  the  women 
to  approach  us.  Presents  were  tried, 
but  without  effect;  Pareea  and  Koah 


JAN.  1779.] 

were  tempted  to  bring  them,  but  in 
vain;  we  were  invariably  answered 
that  the  "  Eatooa  "  and  Terreeoboo 
(which  was  the  name  of  their  King) 
would  kill  them.  This  circumstance 
afforded  no  small  matter  of  amuse- 
ment to  our  friends  on  board,  where 
the  crowds  of  people,  and  particularly 
of  women,  that  continued  to  flock 
thither,  obliged  them  almost  every 
hour  to  clear  the  vessel  in  order  to 
have  room  to  do  the  necessary  duties 
of  the  ship.  On  these  occasions  200 
or  300  women  were  frequently  made 
to  jump  into  the  water  at  once,  where 
they  continued  swimming  and  play- 
ing about  till  they  could  again  pro- 
cure admittance. 

From  the  19th  to  the  24th,  when 
Pareea  and  Koah  left  us  to  attend 
Terreeoboo,  who  had  landed  on  some 
other  part  of  the  island,  nothing  very 
material  happened  on  board.  The 
calkers  were  set  to  work  on  the  sides 
of  the  ships,  and  the  rigging  was  care- 
fully overhauled  and  repaired.  The 
salting  of  hogs  for  sea-store  was  also 
a  constant  and  one  of  the  principal 
objects  of  Captain  Cook's  attentions. 
It  has  generally  been  thought  imprac- 
ticable to  cure  the  flesh  of  animals  by 
salting  in  tropical  climates,  the  pro- 
gress of  putrefaction  being  so  rapid  as 
not  to  allow  time  for  the  salt  to  take 
(as  they  express  it)  before  the  meat 
gets  a  taint,  which  prevents  the  effect 
of  the  pickle.  We  do  not  find  that 
experiments  relative  to  this  subject 
have  been  made  by  the  navigators  of 
any  nation  before  Captain  Cook.  In 
his  first  trials,  which  were  made  in 
1774  during  his  second  voyage  to  the 
Pacific  Ocean,  the  success  he  met  with, 
though  very  imperfect,  was  yet  suffi- 
cient to  convince  him  of  the  error  of 
the  received  opinion.  As  the  voyage 
in  which  he  was  now  engaged  was 
likely  to  be  protracted  a  year  beyond 
the  time  for  which  the  ships  had 
been  victualled,  he  was  under  the 
necessity  of  providing  by  some  such 
means  for  the  subsistence  of  the 
crews,  or  of  relinquishing  the  fur- 
ther prosecution  of  his  discoveries. 
He  therefore  lost  no  opportunity  of 
renewing  his  attempts,  and  the 


A  SOCIETY  OF  PRIESTS. 


821 


event  answered  his  most  sanguine 
expectations.1 

I  shall  now  return  to  our  transac- 
tions on  shore  at  the  observatory, 
where  we  had  not  been  long  settled 
before  we  discovered  in  our  neighbour- 
hood the  habitations  of  a  society  of 
priests,  whose  regular  attendance  at 
the  "morai "  had  excited  our  curiosity. 
Their  huts  stood  round  a  pond  of 
water,  and  were  surrounded  by  a 
grove  of  cocoa-nut  trees,  which  separ- 
ated them  from  the  beach  and  the 
rest  of  the  village,  and  gave  the  place 
an  air  of  religious  retirement.  On 
my  acquainting  Captain  Cook  with 
these  circumstances,  he  resolved  to 
pay  them  a  visit.  On  his  arrival  at 
the  beach  he  was  conducted  to  a 
sacred  building  called  Harre-no-Orono 
or  the  house  of  Orono,  and  seated 
before  the  entrance,  at  the  foot  of  a 
wooden  idol  of  the  same  kind  with 
those  on  the  "morai."  I  was  here 
again  made  to  support  one  of  his 
arms,  and  after  wrapping  him  in  red 
cloth,  Kaireekeea,  accompanied  by 
twelve  priests,  made  an  offering  of  a 
pig  with  the  usual  solemnities.  The 
pig  was  then  strangled,  and  a  fire 
being  kindled,  it  was  thrown  into  the 
embers ;  and  after  the  hair  was  singed 
off  it  was  again  presented,  with  a 
repetition  of  the  chanting  in  the  man- 
ner before  described.  The  dead  pig 
was  then  held  for  a  short  time  under 
the  Captain's  nose,  after  which  it  was 
laid,  with  a  cocoa-nut,  at  his  feet, 
and  the  performers  sat  down.  The 
"ava"  was  then  brewed  and  handed 
round,  a  fat  hog  ready  dressed  was 
brought  in,  and  we  were  fed  as  be- 
fore. 

During  the  rest  of  the  time  we 
remained  in  the  bay,  whenever  Cap- 
tain Cook  came  on  shore  he  was  at- 
tended by  one  of  these  priests,  who 
went  before  him  giving  notice  that 


1  After  describing  the  process,  King 
says :  "I  brought  home  with  me 
some  barrels  of  this  pork  which  was 
pickled  at  Owhyhee  in  January  1779, 
and  was  tasted  by  several  persons  in 
England  about  Christmas  1780,"  and 
found  perfectly  sound  and  wholesome. " 


S22 
the  ' 


Orono ' 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.  [ VOY.  III.  B.  V.  CH.  I. 

had  landed,  and  order-  I  to  their  own  interests ;  and  besides 


ing  the  people  to  prostrate  themselves. 
The  same  person  also  constantly  ac- 
companied him  on  the  water,  stand- 
ing in  the  bow  of  the  boat  with  a 
wand  iu  his  hand,  and  giving  notice 
of  his  approach  to  the  natives  who 
were  in  canoes,  on  which  they  imme- 
diately left  off  paddling  and  lay  down 
on  their  faces  till  he  had  passed. 
Whenever  he  stopped  at  the  observa- 
tory, Kaireekeea  and  his  brethren  im- 
mediately made  their  appearance  with 
hogs,  cocoa-nuts,  bread-fruit,  &c. ,  and 
presented  them  with  the  usual  solem- 
nities. It  was  on  these  occasions  that 
some  of  the  inferior  chiefs  frequently 
requested  to  be  permitted  to  make  an 
offering  to  the  "Orono."  When  this 
was  granted,  they  presented  the  hog 
themselves,  generally  with  evident 
marks  of  fear  in  their  countenances, 
whilst  Kaireekeea  and  the  priests 
chanted  their  accustomed  hymns. 
The  civilities  of  this  society  were  not, 
however,  confined  to  mere  ceremony 
and  parade.  Our  party  on  shore  re- 
ceived from  them  every  day  a  constant 
supply  of  hogs  and  vegetables  more 
than  sufficient  for  our  subsistence, 
and  several  canoes  loaded  with  pro- 
visions were  sent  to  the  ships  with 
the  same  punctuality.  No  return 
was  ever  demanded  or  even  hinted  at 
in  the  most  distant  manner.  Their 
presents  were  made  with  a  regularity 
more  like  the  discharge  of  a  religious 
duty  than  the  effect  of  mere  liberality ; 
and  when  we  inquired  at  whose  charge 
all  this  munificence  was  displayed,  we 
were  told  it  was  at  the  expense  of  a 
great  man  called  Kaoo,  the  chief  of 
the  priests  and  grandfather  to  Kairee- 
keea, who  was  at  that  time  absent 
attending  the  King  of  the  island. 

As  everything  relating  to  the  char- 
acter and  behaviour  of  this  people 
must  be  interesting  to  the  reader  on 
account  of  the  tragedy  that  was  after- 
wards acted  here,  it  will  be  proper  to 
acquaint  him  that  we  had  not  always 
so  much  reason  to  be  satisfied  with 
the  conduct  of  the  warrior  chiefs,  or 
"  Earees,"  as  with  that  of  the  priests. 
In  all  our  dealings  with  the  former 
we  found  them  sufficiently  attentive 


their  habit  of  stealing,  which  may  ad- 
mit of  some  excuse  from  the  univer- 
sality of  the  practice  amongst  the 
islanders  of  these  seas,  they  made  use 
of  other  artifices  equally  dishonour- 
able. I  shall  only  mention  one  in- 
stance, in  which  we  discovered  with 
regret  our  friend  Koah  to  be  a  party 
principally  concerned.  As  the  chiefs 
who  brought  us  presents  of  hogs  were 
always  sent  back  handsomely  reward- 
ed, we  had  generally  a  greater  supply 
than  we  could  make  use  of.  On  these 
occasions  Koah,  who  never  failed  in 
his  attendance  on  us,  used  to  beg  such 
as  we  did  not  want,  and  they  were 
always  given  to  him.  It  one  day 
happened  that  a  pig  was  presented  us 
by  a  man  whom  Koah  himself  intro- 
duced as  a  chief  who  was  desirous  of 
paying  his  respects ;  and  we  recollected 
the  pig  to  be  the  same  that  had  been 
given  to  Koah  just  before.  This  lead- 
ing us  to  suspect  some  trick,  we  found, 
on  further  inquiry,  the  pretended 
chief  to  be  an  ordinary  person;  and 
on  connecting  this  with  other  circum- 
stances, we  had  reason  to  suspect 
that  it  was  not  the  first  time  we  had 
been  the  dupes  of  the  like  imposition. 
Things  continued  in  this  state  till 
the  24th,  when  we  were  a  good  deal 
surprised  to  find  that  no  canoes  were 
suffered  to  put  off  from  the  shore, 
and  that  the  natives  kept  close  to 
their  houses.  After  several  hours' 
suspense,  we  learned  that  the  bay  was 
tabooed,  and  all  intercourse  with  us 
interdicted,  on  account  of  the  arrival 
of  Terreeoboo.  As  we  had  not  fore- 
seen an  accident  of  this  sort,  the  crews 
of  both  ships  were  obliged  to  pass  the 
day  without  their  usual  supply  of 
vegetables.  The  next  morning,  there- 
fore, they  endeavoured  both  by  threats 
and  promises  to  induce  the  natives  to 
come  alongside ;  and  as  some  of  them 
were  at  last  venturing  to  put  off,  a 
chief  was  observed  attempting  to  drive 
them  away.  A  musket  was  immedi- 
ately fired  over  his  head  to  make  him 
desist,  which  had  the  desired  effect, 
and  refreshments  were  soon  after  pur- 
chased as  usual.  In  the  afternoon 
Terreeoboo  arrived,  and  visited  the 


JAN.  1779.]       TERREEOBOO,  KING  OF  THE  ISLAND, 


ships  in  a  private  manner,  attended 
only  by  one  canoe  in  which  were  his 
wife  and  children.  He  stayed  on 
board  till  near  10  o'clock,  when  he 
returned  to  the  village  of  Kowrowa. 

The  next  day  about  nodn  the  King, 
in  a  large  canoe  attended  by  two 
others,  set  out  from  the  village  and 
paddled  toward  the  ships  in  great 
state.  Their  appearance  was  grand 
and  magnificent.  In  the  first  canoe 
were  Terreeoboo  and  his  chiefs,  dress- 
ed in  their  rich  feathered  cloaks  and 
helmets,  and  armed  with  long  spears 
and  daggers ;  in  the  second  came  the 
venerable  Kaoo,  the  chief  of  the 
priests,  and  his  brethren,  with  their 
idols  displayed  on  red  cloth.  ^  These 
idols  were  busts  of  a  gigantic  size, 
made  of  wicker-work,  and  curiously 
covered  with  small  feathers  of  various 
colours  wrought  in  the  same  manner 
with  their  cloaks.  Their  eyes  were 
made  of  large  pearl  oysters,  with  a 
black  nut  fixed  in  the  centre  ;  their 
mouths  were  set  with  a  double  row  of 
the  fangs  of  dogs,  and,  together  with 
the  rest  of  their  features,  were  strangely 
distorted.  The  third  canoe  was  filled 
with  hogs  and  various  sorts  of  vege- 
tables. As  they  went  along  the  priests 
in  the  centre  canoe  sung  their  hymns 
with  great  solemnity  ;  and  after  pad- 
dling round  the  ships,  instead  of 
going  on  board  as  was  expected,  they 
made  toward  the  shore  at  the  beach 
where  we  were  stationed.  As  soon  as 
I  saw  them  approaching  I  ordered  out 
our  little  guard  to  receive  the  King  ; 
and  Captain  Cook,  perceiving  that  he 
was  going  on  shore,  followed  him  and 
arrived  nearly  at  the  same  time.  We 
conducted  them  into  the  tent,  where 
they  had  scarcely  been  seated  when 
the  King  rose  up  and  in  a  very  grace- 
ful manner  threw  over  the  Captain's 
shoulders  the  cloak  he  himself  wore, 
put  a  feathered  helmet  on  his  head, 
and  a  curious  fan  into  his  hand.  He 
also  spread  at  his  feet  five  or  six  other 
cloaks,  all  exceedingly  beautiful  and 
of  the  greatest  value.  His  attendants 
then  brought  four  very  large  hogs, 
with  sugar-canes,  cocoa-nuts,  and 
bread-fruit ;  and  this  part  of  the 
ceremony  was  concluded  by  the  King' 


823 

exchanging  names  with  Captain  Cook, 
which  amongst  all  the  islanders  of 
the  Pacific  Ocean  is  esteemed  the 
trongest  pledge  of  friendship.  A 
procession  of  priests,  with  a  venerable 
old  personage  at  their  head,  now  ap- 
peared, followed  by  a  long  train  of 
men  leading  large  hogs,  and  others 
carrying  plantains,  sweet  potatoes, 
&c.  By  the  looks  and  gestures  of 
Kaireekeea  I  immediately  Jtnew  the 
old  man  to  be  the  chief  of  the  priests 
before  mentioned,  on  whose  bounty 
we  had  so  long  subsisted.  He  had  a 
piece  of  red  cloth  in  his  hands,  which 
he  wrapped  round  Captain  Cook's 
shoulders,  and  afterward  presented 
him  with  a  small  pig  in  the  usual 
form.  A  seat  was  then  made  for  him 
next  to  the  King,  after  which  Kairee- 
keea and  his  followers  began  their  cere- 
monies, Kaoo  and  the  chiefs  joining 
in  the  responses. 

I  was  surprised  to  see  in  the  person 
of  this  King  the  same  infirm  and 
emaciated  old  man  that  came  on  board 
the  Resolution  when  we  were  off  the 
north-east  side  of  the  Island  of  Mowee ; 
and  we  soon  discovered  amongst  his 
attendants  most  of  the  persons  who  at 
that  time  had  remained  with  us  all 
night.  Of  this  number  were  the  two 
younger  sons  of  the  King,  the  eldest 
of  whom  was  sixteen  years  of  age,  and 
his  nephew  Maiha-Maiha,  whom  at 
first  we  had  some  difficulty  in  recol- 
lecting, his  hair  being  plastered  over 
with  a  dirty  brown  paste  and  powder 
which  was  no  mean  heightening  to 
the  most  savage  face  I  ever  beheld. 
As  soon  as  the  formalities  of  the 
meeting  were  over,  Captain  Cook  car- 
ried Terreeoboo,  and  as  many  chiefs 
as  the  pinnace  could  hold,  on  board 
the  Resolution.  They  were  received 
with  every  mark  of  respect  that  could 
be  shown  them;  and  Captain  Cook, 
in  return  for  the  feathered  cloak,  put 
a  linen  shirt  on  the  King,  and  girt 
his  own  hanger  round  him.  The 
ancient  Kaoo,  and  about  half-a-dozen 
more  old  chiefs,  remained  on  shore 
and  took  up  their  abode  at  the  priests' 
houses.  During  all  this  time  not  a 
canoe  was  seen  in  the  bay,  and  the 
natives  either  kept  within  their  huts 


324 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.         [Vor.  III.  B.  V.  CH.  II. 


or  lay  prostrate  on  the  ground.  Be- 
fore the  King  left  the  Resolution, 
Captain  Cook  obtained  leave  for  the 
natives  to  come  and  trade  with  the 
ships  as  usual ;  but  the  women,  for 
what  reason  we  could  not  learn,  still 
continued  under  the  effects  of  the 
"taboo, "that  is,  were  forbidden  to 
stir  from  home  or  to  have  any  com- 
munication with  us. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  quiet  and  inoffensive  behaviour 
of  the  natives  having  taken  away  every 
apprehension  of  danger,  we  did  not 
hesitate  to  trust  ourselves  amongst 
them  at  all  times  and  in  all  situa- 
tions. The  officers  of  both  ships  went 
daily  up  the  country  in  small  parties, 
or  even  singly,  and  frequently  remained 
out  the  whole  night.  It  would  be 
endless  to  recount  all  the  instances  of 
kindness  and  civility  which  we  re- 
ceived upon  those  occasions.  "Wher- 
ever we  went  the  people  flocked  about 
us,  eager  to  offer  every  assistance  in 
their  power,  and  highly  gratified  if 
their  services  were  accepted.  Various 
little  arts  were  practised  to  attract 
our  notice  or  to  delay  our  departure. 
The  boys  and  girls  ran  before  as  we 
walked  through  their  villages,  and 
stopped  us  at  every  opening  where 
there  was  room  to  form  a  group  for 
dancing.  At  one  time  we  were  invited 
to  accept  a  draught  of  cocoa-nut  milk 
or  some  other  refreshment,  under  the 
shade  of  their  huts  ;  at  another  we 
were  seated  within  a  circle  of  young 
women,  who  exerted  all  their  skill  and 
agility  to  amuse  us  with  songs  and 
dances.  The  satisfaction  we  derived 
from  their  gentleness  and  hospitality 
was,  however,  frequently  interrupted 
by  that  propensity  to  stealing  which 
they  have  in  common  with  all  the 
other  islanders  of  these  seas.  This 
circumstance  was  the  more  distressing 
as  it  sometimes  obliged  us  to  have 
recourse  to  acts  of  severity  which  we 
should  willingly  have  avoided  if  the 
necessity  of  the  case  had  not  absolutely 
called  for  them.  Some  of  their  most 


expert  swimmers  were  one  day  dis- 
covered under  the  ships  drawing  out 
the  filling-nails  of  the  sheathing, 
which  they  performed  very  dexter- 
ously by  means  of  a  short  stick  with 
a  flint  stone  fixed  in  the  end  of  it. 
To  put  a  stop  to  this  practice,  which 
endangered  the  very  existence  of  the 
vessels,  we  at  first  fired  small  shot 
at  the  offenders ;  but  they  easily  got 
out  of  our  reach  by  diving  under 
the  ship's  bottom.  It  was  therefore 
found  necessary  to  make  an  example 
by  flogging  one  of  them  on  board  the 
Discovery. 

About  this  time  a  large  party  of 
gentlemen  from  both  ships  set  out 
on  an  excursion  into  the  interior  parts 
of  the  country,  with  a  view  of  examin- 
ing its  natural  productions.  [This] 
afforded  Kaoo  a  fresh  opportunity  of 
showing  his  attention  and  generosity. 
For  as  soon  as  he  was  informed  of 
their  departure,  he  sent  a  large  supply 
of  provisions  after  them,  together  with, 
orders  that  the  inhabitants  of  the 
country  through  which  they  were  to 
pass  should  give  them  every  assistance 
in  their  power.  And  to  complete  the 
delicacy  and  disinterestedness  of  his 
conduct,  even  the  people  he  employed 
could  not  be  prevailed  on  to  accept 
the  smallest  present.  After  remain- 
ing out  six  days  our  officers  returned 
without  having  being  able  to  penetrate 
above  twenty  miles  into  the  island  ; 
partly  from  want  of  proper  guides,  and 
partly  from  the  impracticability  of  the 
country. 

The  head  of  the  Resolution's  rudder 
being  found  exceedingly  shaken,  and 
most  of  the  pintles  either  loose  or 
broken,  it  was  unhung  and  sent  on 
shore,  on  the  27th  in  the  morning,  to 
undergo  a  thorough  repair.  At  the 
same  time  the  carpenters  were  sent 
into  the  country,  under  conduct  of 
some  of  Kaoo's  people,  to  cut  planks 
for  the  head  rail-work,  which  was  also 
entirely  decayed  and  rotten.  On  the 
28th  Captain  Clerke,  whose  ill  health 
confined  him  for  the  most  part  on 
board,  paid  Terreeoboo  his  first  visit 
at  his  hut  on  shore.  He  was  received 
with  the  same  formalities  as  were  ob- 
served with  Captain  Cook  ;  and  on 


JAN.  1779.] 


A  BOXING-MATCH. 


325 


his  coming  away,  though  the  visit 
was  quite  unexpected,  he  received  a 
present  of  thirty  large  hogs  and  as 
much  fruit  and  roots  as  his  crew  could 
consume  in  a  week. 

As  we  had  not  yet  seen  anything  of 
their  sports  or  athletic  exercises,  the 
natives,  at  the  request  of  some  of  our 
officers,  entertained  us  this  evening 
with  a  boxing-match.  Though  these 
games  were  much  inferior,  as  well  in 
point  of  solemnit}'  and  magnificence, 
as  in  the  skill  and  powers  of  the  com- 
batants, to  what  we  had  seen  exhibited 
at  the  Friendly  Islands,  yet  as  they 
differed  in  some  particulars,  it  may 
not  be  improper  to  give  a  short  account 
of  them.  We  found  a  vast  concourse 
cf  people  assembled  on  a  level  spot  of 
ground  at  a  little  distance  from  our 
tents.  A  long  space  was  left  vacant 
in  the  midst  of  them,  at  the  upper 
end  of  which  sat  the  judges,  under 
three  standards,  from  which  hung 
slips  of  cloth  of  various  colours,  the 
skins  of  two  wild  geese,  a  few  small 
birds,  and  bunches  of  feathers.  When 
the  sports  were  ready  to  begin,  the 
signal  was  given  by  the  judges,  and 
immediately  two  combatants  appeared. 
They  came  forward  slowly,  lifting  up 
their  feet  very  high  behind,  and  draw- 
ing their  hands  along  the  soles.  As 
they  approached,  they  frequently  eyed 
each  other  from  head  to  foot  in  a  con- 
temptuous manner,  casting  several 
arch  looks  at  the  spectators,  straining 
their  muscles,  and  using  a  variety  of 
affected  gestures.  Being  advanced 
within  reach  of  each  other,  they  stood 
with  both  arms  held  out  straight  be- 
fore their  faces,  at  which  part  all  their 
blows  were  aimed.  They  struck  in 
what  appeared  to  our  eyes  an  awkward 
manner,  with  a  full  swing  of  the  arm ; 
made  no  attempt  to  parry,  but  eluded 
their  adversary's  attack  by  an  inclina- 
tion of  the  body  or  by  retreating.  The 
battle  was  quickly  decided ;  for  if  either 
of  them  was  knocked  down,  or  even 
fell  by  accident,  he  was  considered  as 
vanquished,  and  the  victor  expressed 
his  triumph  by  a  variety  of  gestures, 
which  usually  excited,  as  was  in- 
tended, a  loud  laugh  among  the  spec- 
tators. He  then  waited  for  a  second 


antagonist ;  and  if  again  victorious, 
for  a  third,  till  he  was  at  last  in  his 
turn  defeated.  A  singular  rule  ob- 
served in  these  combats  is,  that  whilst 
any  two  are  preparing  to  fight,  a  third 
person  may  step  in  and  choose  either 
of  them  for  his  antagonist,  when  the 
other  is  obliged  to  withdraw.  Some- 
times three  or  four  followed  each  other 
in  this  manner  before  the  match  was 
settled.  When  the  combat  proved 
longer  than  usual,  or  appeared  too 
unequal,  one  of  the  chiefs  generally 
stepped  in  and  ended  it  by  putting  a 
stick  between  the  combatants.  The 
same  good  humour  was  preserved 
throughout  which  we  before  so  much 
admired  in  the  Friendly  Islanders. 
As  these  games  were  given  at  our 
desire,  we  found  it  was  universally 
expected  that  we  should  have  borne 
our  part  in  them  ;  but  our  people, 
though  much  pressed  by  the  natives, 
turned  a  deaf  ear  to  their  challenge, 
remembering  full  well  the  blows  they 
got  at  the  Friendly  Islands. 

This  day  died  William  Watman,  a 
seaman  of  the  gunner's  crew ;  an  event 
which  I  mention  the  more  particularly 
as  death  had  hitherto  been  very  rare 
amongst  us.  He  was  an  old  man,  and 
much  respected  on  account  of  his  at- 
tachment to  Captain  Cook.  He  had 
formerly  served  as  a  marine  twenty- 
one  years  ;  after  which  he  entered  as 
a  seaman  on  board  the  Resolution  in 
1772,  and  served  with  Captain  Cook 
in  his  voyage  towards  the  South  Pole. 
At  their  return  he  was  admitted  into 
Greenwich  Hospital,  through  the  Cap- 
tain's interest,  at  the  same  time  with 
himself ;  and  being  resolved  to  follow 
throughout  the  fortunes  of  his  bene- 
factor, he  also  quitted  it  along  with 
him  on  his  being  appointed  to  the 
command  of  the  present  expedition. 
During  the  voyage  he  had  frequently 
been  subject  to  slight  fevers,  and  was 
a  convalescent  when  we  came  into  the 
bay,  where  being  sent  on  shore  for  a 
few  days  he  conceived  himself  per- 
fectly recovered,  and  at  his  own  desire 
returned  on  board ;  but  the  day  fol- 
lowing he  had  a  paralytic  stroke,  which 
in  two  days  more  carried  him  off.  At 
the  request  of  the  King  of  the  island 


326 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.         [VoT.  III.  B.V.  CH.  II. 


he  was  buried  on  the  "moral,"  and 
the  ceremony  was  performed  with  as 
much  solemnity  as  our  situation  per- 
mitted. Old  Kaoo  and  his  brethren 
were  spectators,  and  preserved  the 
most  profound  silence  and  attention 
whilst  the  service  was  reading.  When 
we  began  to  fill  up  the  grave,  they 
approached  it  with  great  reverence, 
threw  in  a  dead  pig,  some  cocoa-nuts, 
and  plantains ;  and  for  three  nights 
afterwards  they  surrounded  it,  sacri- 
ficing hogs  and  performing  their  usual 
ceremonies  of  hymns  and  prayers, 
which  continued  till  daybreak.  At  the 
head  of  the  grave  we  erected  a  post, 
and  nailed  upon  it  a  square  piece  of 
board,  on  which  was  inscribed  the 
name  of  the  deceased,  his  age,  and  the 
day  of  his  death.  This  they  promised 
not  to  remove ;  and  we  have  no  doubt 
but  that  it  will  be  suffered  to  remain, 
as  long  as  the  frail  materials  of  which 
it  is  made  will  permit. 

The  ships  being  in  great  want  of 
fuel,  the  Captain  desired  me  on  the 
2d  of  February  to  treat  with  the  priests 
for  the  purchase  of  the  rail  that  sur- 
rounded the  top  of  the  "morai."  I 
must  confess  I  had  at  first  some  doubt 
about  the  decency  of  this  proposal, 
and  was  apprehensive  that  even  the 
bare  mention  of  it  might  be  considered 
by  them  a«  a  piece  of  shocking  im- 
piety. In  this,  however,  I  found  my- 
self mistaken.  Not  the  smallest  sur- 
prise was  expressed  at  the  application, 
and  the  wood  was  readily  given,  even 
without  stipulating  for  anything  in 
return.  Whilst  the  sailors  were  tak- 
ing it  away,  I  observed  one  of  them 
carrying  off  a  carved  image ;  and  on 
further  inquiry  I  found  that  they  had 
conveyed  to  the  boats  the  whole  semi- 
circle.1 Though  this  was  done  in  the 
presence  of  the  natives,  who  had  not 
shown  any  mark  of  resentment  at  it 
but  had  even  assisted  them  in  the 
removal,  I  thought  it  proper  to  speak 
to  Kaoo  on  the  subject,  who  appeared 
very  indifferent  about  the  matter,  and 
only  desired  that  we  would  restore 
the  centre  image  I  have  mentioned 


1  Of  twelve  images,   described  in 
the  preceding  Chapter. 


before,  which  he  carried  into  one  of 
the  priest's  houses. 

Terreeoboo  and  his  chiefs  had  for 
some  days  past  been  very  inquisitive 
about  the  time  of  our  departure.  This 
circumstance  had  excited  in  me  a  great 
curiosity  to  know  what  opinion  this 
people  had  formed  of  us,  and  what 
were  their  ideas  respecting  the  cause 
and  objects  of  our  voyage.  I  took 
some  pains  to  satisfy  myself  on  these 
points,  but  could  never  learn  anything 
further  than  that  they  imagined  we 
came  from  some  country  where  pro- 
visions had  failed,  and  that  our  visit 
to  them  was  merely  for  the  purpose  of 
filling  our  bellies.  Indeed,  the  meagre 
appearance  of  some  of  our  crew,  the 
hearty  appetites  with  which  we  sat 
down  to  their  fresh  provisions,  and 
our  great  anxiety  to  purchase  and 
carry  off  as  much  as  we  were  able,  led 
them  naturally  enough  to  such  a  con- 
clusion. To  these  may  be  added  a 
circumstance  which  puzzled  them  ex- 
ceedingly— our  having  no  women  with 
us,  together  with  our  quiet  conduct 
and  unwarlike  appearance.  It  was 
ridiculous  enough  to  see  them  strok- 
ing the  sides  and  patting  the  bellies 
of  the  sailors  (who  were  certainly 
much  improved  in  the  sleekness  of 
their  looks  during  our  short  stay  in 
the  island),  and  telling  them,  partly 
by  signs  and  partly  by  words,  that  it 
was  time  for  them  to  go ;  but  if  they 
would  come  again  the  next  bread-fruit 
season  they  should  be  better  able  to 
supply  their  wants.  We  had  now 
been  sixteen  days  in  the  bay,  and  if 
our  enormous  consumption  of  hogs 
and  vegetables  be  considered,  it  need 
not'  be  wondered  that  they  should 
wish  to  see  us  take  our  leave.2  It  is 


9  It  is  shrewdly  enough  suggested, 
in  a  note  in  Kerr's  Collection  (vol. 
xvi.,  page  439),  that  the  subsequent 
unexpected  return  of  the  ships  to 
Karakakooa  Bay  may  have  alarmed 
the  natives  for  the  security  of  their 
own  sustenance  until  the  next  season 
of  plenty,  and  in  a  certain  measure 
predisposed  them  to  deal  with  tho 
strangers  in  a  less  friendly,  trustful, 
|  and  respectful  way. 


FEB.  1779.]     PRESENTS  FROM  TERREEOBOO  TO  COOK. 


very  probable,  however,  that  Terreeo- 
boo had  no  other  view  in  his  inquiries 
at  present  than  a  desire  of  making 
sufficient  preparation  for  dismissing 
us  with  presents  suitable  to  the  respect 
and  kindness  with  which  he  had  re- 
ceived us.  For  on  our  telling  him 
we  should  leave  the  island  on  the  next 
day  but  one,  we  observed  that  a  sort 
of  proclamation  was  immediately  made 
through  the  villages  to  require  the 
people  to  bring  in  their  hogs  and 
vegetables  for  the  King  to  present  to 
the  "  Orono  "  on  his  departure. 

We  were  this  day  much  diverted  at 
the  beach  by  the  buffooneries  of  one 
of  the  natives.  He  held  in  his  hand 
an  instrument  of  the  sort  described  [in 
Book  III.,  Chapter  XII.1];  some  bits 
of  sea-weed  were  tied  round  his  neck ; 
and  round  each  leg  a  piece  of  strong 
netting  about  nine  inches  deep,  on 
which  a  great  number  of  dogs'  teeth 
were  loosely  fastened  in  rows.  His 
style  of  dancing  was  entirely  bur- 
lesque, and  accompanied  with  strange 
grimaces  and  pantomimical  distor- 
tions of  the  face,  which,  though  at 
times  inexpressibly  ridiculous,  yet  on 
the  whole  were  without  much  mean- 
ing or  expression.  In  the  evening  we 
were  again  entertained  with  wrestling 
and  boxing-matches,  and  we  displayed 
in  return  the  few  fireworks  we  had 
left.  Nothing  could  be  better  cal- 
culated to  excite  the  admiration  of 
these  islanders,  and  to  impress  them 
with  an  idea  of  our  great  superiority, 
than  an  exhibition  of  this  kind.  Cap- 
tain Cook  has  already  described  the 
extraordinary  effects  of  that  which  was 
made  at  Hapaee;  and  though  the 
present  was  in  every  respect  infinitely 
inferior,  yet  the  astonishment  of  the 
natives  was  not  less. 

I  have  before  mentioned  that  the 
carpenters  from  both  ships  had  been 
sent  up  the  country  to  cut  planks  for 
the  head -rail  work  of  the  Resolution. 
This  was  the  third  day  since  their 
departure,  and  having  received  no  in- 
telligence from  them,  we  began  to 
be  very  anxious  for  their  safety.  We 
were  communicating  our  apprehen- 


Ante,  page  240. 


327 

sions  to  old  Kaoo,  who  appeared  as 
much  concerned  as  ourselves,  and 
were  concerting  measures  with  him 
for  sending  after  them,  when  they 
arrived  all  safe.  They  had  been  ob- 
liged to  go  farther  into  the  country 
than  was  expected  before  they  met 
with  trees  fit  for  their  purpose,  and 
it  was  this  circumstance,  together 
with  the  badness  of  the  roads,  and 
the  difficulty  of  bringing  back  the 
timber,  which  had  detained  them  so 
long.  They  spoke  in  high  terms  of 
their  guides,  who  both  supplied  them 
with  provisions,  and  guarded  their 
tools  with  the  utmost  fidelity. 

The  next  day  being  fixed  for  our 
departure,  Terreeoboo  invited  Captain 
Cook  and  myself  to  attend  him  on  the 
3d  to  the  place  where  Kaoo  resided. 
On  our  arrival  we  found  the  ground 
covered  with  parcels  of  cloth,  a  vast 
quantity  of  red  and  yellow  feathers 
tied  to  the  fibres  of  cocoa-nut  husks, 
and  a  great  number  of  hatchets,  and 
other  pieces  of  iron-ware  that  had 
been  got  in  barter  from  us.  At  a  little 
distance  from  these  lay  an  immense 
quantity  of  vegetables  of  every  kind, 
and  near  them  was  a  large  herd  of 
hogs.  At  first  we  imagined  the  whole 
to  be  intended  as  a  present  for  us,  till 
Kaireekeea  informed  nie  that  it  was 
a  gift  or  tribute  from  the  people  of 
that  district  to  the  King,  and  accord- 
ingly, as  soon  as  we  were  seated,  they 
brought  all  the  bundles  and  laid  them 
severally  at  Terreeoboo 's  feet,  spread- 
ing out  the  cloth  and  displaying  the 
feathers  and  iron-ware  before  him. 
The  King  seemed  much  pleased  with 
this  mark  of  their  duty,  and  having 
selected  about  a  third  part  of  the 
iron-ware,  the  same  proportion  of 
feathers,  and  a  few  pieces  of  cloth, 
these  were  set  aside  by  themselves ; 
and  the  remainder  of  the  cloth,  to- 
gether with  all  the  hogs  a-nd  vege- 
tables, were  afterwards  presented  to 
Captain  Cook  and  myself.  We  were 
astonished  at  the  value  and  magnitude 
of  this  present,  which  far  exceeded 
everything  of  the  kind  we  had  seen 
either  at  the  Friendly  or  Society 
Islands.  Boats  were  immediately  sent 
to  carry  them  on  board,  the  large  hogs 


328 

were  picked  out  to  be  salted  for  sea- 
store,  and  upwards  of  thirty  smaller 
pigs  and  the  vegetables  were  divided 
between  the  two  crews. 

The  same  day  we  quitted  the 
"  morai "  and  got  the  tents  and  astro- 
nomical instruments  on  board.  The 
charm  of  the  taboo  was  now  removed ; 
and  we  had  no  sooner  left  the  place 
than  the  natives  rushed  in  and  search- 
ed eagerly  about  in  expectation  of 
finding  something  of  value  that  we 
might  have  left  behind.  As  I  hap- 
pened to  remain  the  last  on  shore,  and 
waited  for  the  return  of  the  boat, 
several  came  crowding  about  me ;  and 
having  made  me  sit  down  by  them, 
began  to  lament  our  separation.  It 
was,  indeed,  not  without  difficulty  I 
was  able  to  quit  them.  And  here  I 
hope  I  may  be  permitted  to  relate  a 
trifling  occurrence  in  which  I  was 
principally  concerned.  Having  had 
the  command  of  the  party  on  shore 
during  the  whole  time  we  were  in  the 
bay,  I  had  an  opportunity  of  becom- 
ing better  acquainted  with  the  natives, 
and  of  being  better  known  to  them, 
than  those  whose  duty  required  them 
to  be  generally  on  board.  As  I  had 
every  reason  to  be  satisfied  with  their 
kindness  in  general,  so  I  cannot  too 
often  nor  too  particularly  mention 
the  unbounded  and  constant  friend- 
ship of  their  priests.  On  my  part,  I 
spared  no  endeavours  to  conciliate 
their  affections  and  gain  their  esteem  ; 
and  I  had  the  good  fortune  to  succeed 
so  far,  that  when  the  time  of  our 
departure  was  made  known  I  was 
strongly  solicited  to  remain  behind, 
not  without  offers  of  the  most  flatter- 
ing kind.  When  I  excused  myself  by 
saying  that  Captain  Cook  would  not 
give  his  consent,  they  proposed  that 
I  should  retire  into  the  mountains, 
where,  they  said,  they  would  conceal 
me  till  after  the  departure  of  the 
ships;  and  on  my  further  assuring 
them  that  the  Captain  would  not 
leave  the  bay  without  me,  Terreeoboo 
and  Kaoo  waited  upon  Captain  Cook, 
whose  son  they  supposed  I  was,  with 
a  formal  request  that  I  might  be  left 
behind.  The  Captain,  to  avoid  giv- 
ing a  positive  refusal  to  an  offer  so 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.          (ToY.m.B.  V.Cn.IL 


kindly  intended,  told  them  that  he 
could  not  part  with  me  at  that  time, 
but  that  he  should  return  to  the  island 
next  year,  and  would  then  endeavour 
to  settle  the  matter  to  their  satisfac- 
tion. 

Early  in  the  morning  of  the  4th  we 
unmoored  and  sailed  out  of  the  bay, 
with  the  Discovery  in  company,  and 
were  followed  by  a  great  number  of 
canoes.  Captain  Cook's  design  was 
to  finish  the  survey  of  Owhyhee  before 
he  visited  the  other  islands,  in  hopes 
of  meeting  with  a  road  better  sheltered 
than  the  bay  we  had  just  left ;  and  in 
case  of  not  succeeding  here,  he  pur- 
posed to  take  a  view  of  the  south-east 
part  of  Mowee,  where  the  natives  in- 
formed us  we  should  find  an  excellent 
harbour.  We  had  calm  weather  all 
this  and  the  following  day,  which 
made  our  progress  to  the  northward 
very  slow.  We  were  accompanied  by 
a  great  number  of  the  natives  in  their 
canoes,  and  Terreeoboo  gave  a  fresh 
proof  of  his  friendship  to  Captain 
Cook  by  a  large  present  of  hogs  and 
vegetables  that  was  sent  after  him. 

In  the  night  of  the  5th,  having  a 
light  breeze  off  the  land,  we  made 
some  way  to  the  northward ;  and  in 
the  morning  of  the  6th,  having  passed 
the  westernmost  point  of  the  island, 
we  found  ourselves  abreast  of  a  deep 
bay  called  by  the  natives  Toe-yah- 
yah.  We  had  great  hopes  that  this 
bay  would  furnish  us  with  a  safe  and 
commodious  harbour,  as  we  saw  to 
the  north-east  several  fine  streams  of 
water,  and  the  whole  had  the  appear- 
ance of  being  well  sheltered.  These 
observations  agreeing  with  the  ac- 
counts given  us  by  Koah,  who  accom- 
panied Captain  Cook,  and  had  changed 
his  name,  out  of  compliment  to  us, 
into  "Britannee,"  the  pinnace  was 
hoisted  out,  and  the  master,  with 
"Britannee"  for  his  guide,  was  sent 
to  examine  the  bay,  whilst  the  ships 
worked  up  after  them.  In  the  after- 
noon the  weather  became  gloomy,  and 
the  gusts  of  wind  that  blew  off  the 
land,  were  so  violent  as  to  make  it 
necessary  to  take  in  all  the  sails,  and 
bring  to  under  the  mizzen-staysail. 
All  the  canoes  left  us  at  the  begin- 


FEB.  1779.]        RESOLUTION  DAMAGED  IN  A  GALE. 


ning  of  the  gale ,  and  Mr  Bligh,  on 
his  return,  had  the  satisfaction  of 
saving  an  old  woman  and  two  men, 
whose  canoe  had  been  overset  by  the 
violence  of  the  wind  as  they  were 
endeavouring  to  gain  the  shore.  Be- 
sides these  distressed  people,  we  had 
a  great  many  women  on  board  whom 
the  natives  had  left  behind  in  their 
hurry  to  shift  for  themselves.  The 
master  reported  to  Captain  Cook  that 
he  had  landed  at  the  only  village  he 
saw,  on  the  north  side  of  the  bay, 
where  he  was  directed  to  some  wells 
of  water,  but  found  they  would  by  no 
means  answer  our  purpose ;  that  he 
afterward  proceeded  farther  into  the 
bay,  which  runs  inland  to  a  great 
depth,  and  stretches  toward  the  foot 
of  a  very  conspicuous  high  mountain, 
situated  on  the  north-west  end  of  the 
island ;  but  that  instead  of  meeting 
with  safe  anchorage,  as  "  Britannee  " 
had  taught  him  to  expect,  he  found 
the  shores  low  and  rocky,  and  a  flat 
bed  of  coral  rocks  running  along  the 
coast  and  extending  upwards  of  a  mile 
from  the  land,  on  the  outside  of  which 
the  depth  of  water  was  twenty  fathoms 
over  a  sandy  bottom;  and  that,  in 
the  meantime  "  Britannee  "  had  con- 
trived to  slip  away,  being  afraid  of 
returning,  as  we  imagined,  because 
his  information  had  not  proved  true 
and  successful. 

In  the  evening,  the  weather  being 
more  moderate,  we  again  mado  sail ; 
but  about  midnight  it  blew  so  vio- 
lently as  to  split  both  the  fore  and 
main  topsails.  On  the  morning  of 
the  7th  we  bent  fresh  sails,  and  had 
fair  weather  and  a  light  breeze.  At 
noon  the  latitude  by  observation  was 
20°  1'  K,  the  W.  point  of  the  island 
bearing  S.  7°  E.,  and  the  NW.  point 
N.  38°  E.  As  we  were  at  this  time 
four  or  five  leagues  from  the  shore, 
and  the  weather  very  unsettled,  none 
of  the  canoes  would  venture  out,  so 
that  our  guests  were  obliged  to  remain 
with  us,  much  indeed  to  their  dis- 
satisfaction, for  they  were  all  sea-sick, 
and  many  of  them  had  left  young 
children  behind  them.  In  the  after- 
noon, though  the  weather  was  still 
squally,  we  stood  in  for  the  land,  and 


829 

being  about  three  leagues  from  it  we 
saw  a  canoe  with  two  men  paddling 
toward  us,  which  we  immediately 
conjectured  had  been  driven  off  the 
shore  by  the  late  boisterous  weather, 
and  therefore  stopped  the  ship's  way 
in  order  to  take  them  in.  These 
poor  wretches  were  so  entirely  ex- 
hausted with  fatigue,  that  had  not 
one  of  the  natives  on  board,  observ- 
ing their  weakness,  jumped  into  the 
canoe  to  their  assistance,  they  would 
scarcely  have  been  able  to  fasten  it  to 
the  rope  we  had  thrown  out  for  that 
purpose.  It  was  >  with  difficulty  we 
got  them  up  the  ship's  side,  together 
with  a  child  about  four  years  old, 
which  they  had  lashed  under  the 
thwarts  of  the  canoe,  where  it  had 
lain  with  only  its  head  above  water. 
They  told  us  they  had  left  the  shore 
the  morning  before,  and  had  been 
from  that  time  without  food  or 
water.  The  usual  precautions  were 
taken  in  giving  them  victuals,  and 
the  child  being  committed  to  the  care 
of  one  of  the  women,  we  found  them 
all  next  morning  perfectly  recovered. 
At  midnight  a  gale  of  wind  came 
on  which  obliged  us  to  double  reef 
the  top-sails  and  get  down  the  top- 
gallant yards.  On  the  8th  at  day- 
break, we  found  that  the  fore-mast 
had  again  given  way,  the  fishes  which 
were  put  on  the  head  in  King  George's 
or  Nootka  Sound,  on  the  coast  of 
America,  being  sprung,  and  the  parts 
so  very  defective  as  to  make  it  absol- 
utely necessary  to  replace  them,  and 
of  course  to  unstep  the  mast.  In  this 
difficulty,  Captain  Cook  was  for  some 
time  in  doubt  whether  he  should  run 
the  chance  of  meeting  with  a  harbour 
in  the  islands  to  leeward,  or  return 
to  Karakakooa.  That  bay  was  not  so 
remarkably  commodious  in  any  re- 
spect but  that  a  better  might  pro- 
bably be  expected,  both  for  the 
purpose  of  repairing  the  masts  and 
for  procuring  refreshments,  of  which 
it  was  imagined  that  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Karakakooa  had  been  already 
pretty  well  drained.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  was  considered  as  too  great 
a  risk  to  leave  a  place  that  was 
tolerably  sheltered,  and  which,  once 


330  COOK'S  VOYAGES. 

left  could  Bot  be  regained,  for  the 


mere  hopes  of  meeting  with  a  better, 
the  failure  of  which  might  perhaps 
have  left  us  without  resource.  We 
therefore  continued  standing  on  to- 
wards the  land,  in  order  to  give  the 
natives  an  opportunity  of  releasing 
their  friends  on  board  from  their  con- 
finement; and  at  noon,  being  within 
a  mile  of  the  shore,  a  few  canoes 
came  off  to  us,  but  so  crowded  with 
people  that  there  was  not  room  in 
them  for  any  of  our  guests.  We 
therefore  hoisted  out  the  pinnace  to 
carry  them  on  shore ;  and  the  master 
who  went  with  them,  had  directions 
to  examine  the  south  coasts  of  the 
bay  for  water,  but  returned  without 
finding  any. 

The  winds  being  variable,  and  a 
current  setting  strong  to  the  north- 
ward, we  made  but  little  progress  in 
our  return ;  and  at  8  o'clock  in  the 
evening  of  the  9th  it  began  to  blow 
very  hard  from  the  SE.,  which  ob- 
liged us  to  close  reef  the  top-sails; 
and  at  two  in  the  morning  of  the 
10th,  in  a  heavy  squall,  we  found 
ourselves  close  in  with  the  breakers 
that  lie  to  the  northward  of  the  west 
point  of  Owhyhee.  We  had  just  room 
to  haul  off  and  avoid  them,  and  fired 
several  guns  to  apprise  the  Discovery 
of  the  danger.  In  the  forenoon,  the 
weather  was  more  moderate,  and  a 
few  canoes  came  off  to  us,  from  which 
we  learned  that  the  late  storms  had 
done  much  mischief,  and  that  several 
large  canoes  had  been  lost.  During 
the  remainder  of  the  day  we  kept 
beating  to  windward,  and  before 
night  we  were  within  a  mile  of  the 
bay;  but  not  choosing  to  run  on 
while  it  was  dark,  we  stood  off  and 
on  till  daylight  next  morning,  when 
we  dropped  anchor  nearly  in  the  same 
place  as  before. 


CHAPTER  III. 

WE  were  employed  the  whole  of  the 
llth  and  part  of  the  12th  in  getting 
out  the  fore-mast  and  sending  it  with 
the  carpenters  on  shore.  Besides  the 


[VoY.III.B.V.Cu.IIT. 

damage  which  the  head  of  the  mast 
had  sustained,  we  found  the  heel  ex- 
ceedingly  rotten,  having  a  large  hole 
up  the  middle  of  it  capable  of  holding 
four  or  five  cocoa-nuts.  It  was  not 
however,  thought  necessary  to  shorten 
it,  and  fortunately  the  logs  of  red 
toa-wood  which  had  been  cut  at 
Eimeo  for  anchor-stocks  were  found 
fit  to  replace  the  sprung  part  of  the 
fishes.  As  these  repairs  were  likely 
to  take  up  several  days,  Mr  Bayly 
and  myself  got  the  astronomical  ap- 
paratus on  shore,  and  pitched  our 
tents  on  the  "morai;"  having  with 
us  a  guard  of  a  corporal  and  six 
marines.  We  renewed  our  friendly 
correspondence  with  the  priests,  who, 
for  the  greater  security  of  the  work- 
men and  their  tools,  tabooed  the  place 
where  the  mast  lay,  sticking  their 
wands  round  it  as  before.  The  sail- 
makers  were  also  sent  on  shore  to  re- 
pair the  damages  which  had  taken 
place  in  their  department  during  the 
late  gales.  They  were  lodged  in  a 
house  adjoining  to  the  "morai,"  that 
was  lent  us  by  the  priests.  Such 
were  our  arrangements  on  shore.  I 
shall  now  proceed  to  the  account  of 
those  other  transactions  with  the 
natives  which  led  by  degrees  to  the 
fatal  catastrophe  of  the  14th. 

Upon  coming  to  anchor  we  were 
surprised  to  find  cur  reception  very 
different  from  what  it  had  been  on  our 
first  arrival ;  no  shouts,  no  bustle,  no 
confusion,  but  a  solitary  bay,  with 
only  here  and  there  a  canoe  stealing 
close  along  the  shore.  The  impulse  of 
curiosity,  which  had  before  operated 
to  so  great  a  degree,  might  now  in- 
deed be  supposed  to  have  ceased ;  but 
the  hospitable  treatment  we  had  in- 
variably met  with,  and  the  friendly 
footing  on  which  we  parted,  gave  us 
some  reason  to  expect  that  they  would 
again  have  flocked  about  us  with 
great  joy  on  our  return.  We  were 
forming  various  conjectures  upon  the 
occasion  of  this  extraordinary  appear- 
ance, when  our  anxiety  was  at  length 
relieved  by  the  return  of  a  boat  which 
had  been  sent  on  shore,  and  brought 
us  word  that  Terreeoboo  was  absent 
and  had  left  the  bav  under  the  taboo. 


FEB.  1779.]    SUSPICIOUS  CONDUCT  OF  THE  NATIVES. 


331 


Though  this  account  appeared  very 
satisfactory  to  most  of  us,  yet  others 
were  of  opinion,  or  rather  perhaps 
have  been  led  by  subsequent  events 
to  imagine,  that  there  was  something 
at  this  time,  very  suspicious  in  the 
behaviour  of  the  natives;  and  that 
the  interdiction  of  all  intercourse  with 
us,  on  pretence  of  the  King's  absence, 
was  only  to  give  him  time  to  consult 
with  his  chiefs  in  what  manner  it 
might  be  proper  to  treat  us.  Whether 
these  suspicions  were  well  founded, 
or  the  account  given  by  the  natives 
was  the  truth,  we  were  never  able  to 
ascertain.  For  though  it  is  not  im- 
probable that  our  sudden  return,  for 
which  they  could  see  no  apparent 
cause,  and  the  necessity  of  which  we 
afterward  found  it  very  difficult  to 
make  them  comprehend,  might  occa- 
sion some  alarm ;  yet  the  unsuspicious 
conduct  of  Terreeoboo,  who  on  his 
supposed  arrival  the  next  morning 
came  immediately  to  visit  Captain 
Cook,  and  the  consequent  return  of 
the  natives  to  their  former  friendly 
intercourse  with  us,  are  strong  proofs 
that  they  neither  meant  nor  appre- 
hended any  change  of  conduct. 

In  support  of  this  opinion  I  may 
add  the  account  of  another  accident, 
precisely  of  the  same  kind,  which 
happened  to  us  on  our  first  visit,  the 
day  before  the  arrival  of  the  King. 
A  native  had  sold  a  hog  on  board  the 
Resolution,  and  taken  the  price  agreed 
on,  when  Pareea,  passing  by,  advised 
the  man  not  to  part  with  the  hog 
without  an  advanced  price.  For  this 
he  was  sharply  spoken  to  and  pushed 
away ;  and  the  taboo  being  soon  after 
laid  on  the  bay,  we  had  at  first  no 
doubt  but  that  it  was  in  consequence 
of  the  offence  given  to  the  chief. 
Both  these  accidents  serve  to  show 
how  very  difficult  it  is  to  draw  any 
certain  conclusion  from  the  actions  of 
people  with  whose  customs  as  well  as 
language  we  are  so  imperfectly  ac- 
quainted;  at  the  same  time,  some 
idea  may  be  formed  from  them  of  th€ 
difficulties,  at  the  first  view,  perhaps, 
not  very  apparent,  which  those  hav< 
to  encounter  who,  in  all  their  trans 
actions  with  these  strangers,  have  t( 


teer  their  course  amidst  so  much  nn- 
ertainty,  where  a  trifling  error  may 
>e  attended  with  even  the  most  fatal 
onsequences.  However  true  or  false 
ur  conjectures  may  be,  things  went 
>n  in  their  usual  quiet  course  till  the 
,fternoon  of  the  13th. 

Towards  the  evening  of  that  day, 
he  officer  who  commanded  the  water- 
ng  party  of  the  Discovery,  came  to 
nform  me  that  several  chiefs  had  as 
3embled  at  the  well  near  the  beach, 
driving  away  the  natives  whom  he 
lad  hired  to  assist  the  sailors  in  roll, 
ng  down  the  casks  to  the  shore.  He 
told  me,  at  the  same  time,  that  he 
thought  their  behaviour  extremely 
suspicious,  and  that  they  meant  to 
give  him  some  further  disturbance. 
At  his  request  therefore,  I  sent  a 
marine  along  with  him,  but  suffered 
lim  to  take  only  his  side  arms.  In 
a  short  time  the  officer  returned,  and 
m  his  acquainting  me  that  the 
slanders  had  armed  themselves  with 
stones,  and  were  growing  very  tumul- 
tuous, I  went  myself  to  the  spot, 
attended  by  a  marine  with  his  mus- 
ket. Seeing  us  approach,  they  threw 
away  their  stones,  and  on  my  speak- 
ing to  some  of  the  chiefs,  the  mob 
were  driven  away,  and  those  who 
chose  it  were  suffered  to  assist  in  fill- 
ing the  casks.  Having  left  things 
quiet  here,  I  went  to  meet  Captain 
Cook,  whom  I  saw  coming  on  shore 
in  the  pinnace.  I  related  to  him 
what  had  just  passed  ;  and  he  ordered 
me,  in  case  of  their  beginning  to  throw 
stones  or  behave  insolently,  immedi- 
ately to  fire  a  ball  at  the  offenders. 
I  accordingly  gave  orders  to  the  cor- 
poral to  have  the  pieces  of  the  sen- 
tinels loaded  with  ball  instead  of 
small  shot.  Soon  after  our  return  to 
the  tents,  we  were  alarmed  by  a  con- 
tinued fire  of  muskets  from  the  Dis- 
covery, which  we  observed  to  be 
directed  at  a  canoe  that  we  saw  pad- 
dling towards  the  shore  in  great 
haste,  pursued  by  one  of  our  small 
boats.  We  immediately  concluded 
that  the  firing  was  in  consequence  of 
some  theft,  and  Captain  Cook  ordered 
me  to  folio  whim  with  a  marine  armed, 
and  to  endeavour  to  seize  the  people 


332 


COOK'S  VOYAGES. 


[YOY.III.B.V.CH.III. 


as  they  came  on  shore.  Accordingly 
we  ran  towards  the  place  where  we 
supposed  the  canoe  would  land,  but 
were  too  late,  the  people  having  quit- 
ted it  and  made  their  escape  into  the 
country  before  our  arrival.  We  were 
at  this  time  ignorant  that  the  goods 
had  been  already  restored ;  and  as  we 
thought  it  probable,  from  the  circum- 
stances we  had  at  first  observed,  that 
they  might  be  of  importance,  were 
unwilling  to  relinquish  our  hopes  of 
recovering  them.  Having  therefore 
inquired  of  the  natives  which  way  the 
people  had  fled,  we  followed  them  till 
it  was  near  dark,  when,  judging  our- 
selves to  be  about  three  miles  from  the 
tents,  and  suspecting  that  the  natives 
who  frequently  encouraged  us  in  the 
pursuit  were  amusing  us  with  false 
information,  we  thought  it  in  vain  to 
continue  our  search  any  longer,  and 
returned  to  the  beach. 

During  our  absence,  a  difference  of 
a  more  serious  and  unpleasant  nature 
had  happened.  The  officer  who  had 
been  sent  in  the  small  boat,  and  was 
returning  on  board  with  the  goods 
which  had  been  restored,  observing 
Captain  Cook  and  me  engaged  in  the 
pursuit  of  the  offenders,  thought  it 
his  duty  to  seize  the  canoe,  which 
was  left  drawn  up  on  the  shore.  Un- 
fortunately this  canoe  belonged  to 
Pareea,  who,  arriving  at  the  same 
moment  from  on  board  the  Discovery, 
claimed  his  property  with  many  pro- 
testations of  his  innocence.  The 
officer  refusing  to  give  it  up,  and 
being  joined  by  the  crew  of  the  pin- 
nace, which  was  waiting  for  Captain 
Cook,  a  scuffle  ensued,  in  which  Pa- 
reea was  knocked  down  by  a  violent 
blow  on  the  head  with  an  oar.  The 
natives  who  were  collected  about  the 
spot,  and  had  hitherto  been  peaceable 
spectators,  immediately  attacked  our 
people  with  sucli  a  shower  of  stones, 
as  forced  them  to  retreat  with  great 
precipitation,  and  swim  off  to  a  rock 
at  some  distance  from  the  shore.  The 
pinnace  was  immediately  ransacked 
by  the  islanders ;  and  but  for  the 
timely  interposition  of  Pareea,  who 
seemed  to  have  recovered  from  the 
blow,  and  forgotten  it  at  the  same 


instant,  would  soon  have  been  entirely 
demolished.  Having  driven  away 
the  crowd,  he  made  signs  to  our 
people  that  they  might  come  and  take 
possession  of  the  pinnace,  and  that 
he  would  endeavour  to  get  back  the 
things  which  had  been  taken  out  of 
it.  After  their  departure,  he  followed 
them  in  his  canoe  with  a  midship- 
man's cap,  and  some  other  trifling 
articles  of  the  plunder,  and,  with 
much  apparent  concern  at  what  had 
happened,  asked  if  the  "  Orono " 
would  kill  him,  and  whether  he 
would  permit  him  to  come  on  board 
the  next  day  ?  On  being  assured  that 
he  should  be  well  received,  he  joined 
noses  (as  their  custom  is)  with  the 
officers  in  token  of  friendship,  and  pad- 
dled over  to  the  village  of  Kowrowa. 

When  Captain  Cook  was  informed 
of  what  had  passed,  he  expressed 
much  uneasiness  at  it,  and  as  we 
were  returning  on  board — "I  am 
afraid,"  said  he,  "that  these  people 
will  oblige  me  to  use  some  violent 
measures;  for,"  he  added,  "they 
must  not  be  left  to  imagine  that  they 
have  gained  an  advantage  over  us. " 
However,  as  it  was  too  late  to  take 
any  steps  this  evening,  he  contented 
himself  with  giving  orders  that  every 
man  and  woman  on  board  should  be 
immediately  turned  out  of  the  ship. 
As  soon  as  this  order  was  executed,  I 
returned  on  shore ;  and  our  former 
confidence  in  the  natives  being  now 
much  abated  by  the  events  of  the  day, 
I  posted  a  double  guard  on  the 
"morai,"  with  orders  to  call  me  if 
they  saw  any  men  lurking  about  the 
beach.  At  about  11  o'clock  five 
islanders  were  observed  creeping  round 
the  bottom  of  the  "morai;"  they 
seemed  very  cautious  in  approaching 
us,  and  at  last,  finding  themselves 
discovered,  re  tired  out  of  sight.  About 
midnight,  one  of  them  venturing  up 
close  to  the  observatory,  the  sentinel 
fired  over  him,  on  which  the  man  fled 
and  we  passed  the  remainder  of  the 
night  without  further  disturbance. 

Next  morning,  at  daylight,  I  went 
on  board  the  Resolution  for  the  time- 
keeper, and  in  my  way  was  hailed  by 
the  Discovery,  and  informed  that 


FEB.  1779.]     THE  CUTTER  OF  THE  DISCOVERY  STOLEN. 


their  cutter  had  been  stolen  during 
the  night  from  the  buoy  where  it  was 
moored.  When  I  arrived  on  board  I 
found  the  marines  arming,  and  Cap- 
tain Cook  loading  his  double-barrelled 
gun.  Whilst  I  was  relating  to  him 
what  had  happened  to  us  in  the  night, 
he  interrupted  me  with  some  eager- 
ness, and  acquainted  me  with  the 
loss  of  the  Discovery's  cutter,  and 
with  the  preparations  he  was  making 
for  its  recovery.  It  had  been  his 
usual  practice,  whenever  anything 
of  consequence  was  lost  at  any  of  the 
islands  in  this  ocean,  to  get  the  king 
or  some  of  the  principal  "Erees,"  on 
board,  and  to  keep  them  as  hostages 
till  it  was  restored.  This  method, 
which  had  been  always  attended  with 
success,  he  meant  to  pursue  on  the 
present  occasion ;  and,  at  the  same 
time,  had  given  orders  to  stop  all  the 
canoes  that  should  attempt  to  leave 
the  bay,  with  an  intention  of  seizing 
and  destroying  them  if  he  could  not 
recover  the  cutter  by  peaceable  means. 
Accordingly,  the  boats  of  both  ships, 
well  manned  and  armed,  were  sta- 
tioned across  the  bay  ;  and  before  I 
left  the  ship  some  great  guns  had 
been  fired  at  two  large  canoes  that 
were  attempting  to  make  their  escape. 
It  was  between  7  and  8  o'clock 
when  we  quitted  the  ship  together ; 
Captain  Cook  in  the  pinnace,  having 
Mr  Phillips  and  nine  marines  with 
him,  and  myself  in  the  small  boat. 
The  last  orders  I  received  from  him 
were  to  quiet  the  minds  of  the  natives 
on  our  side  of  the  bay,  by  assuring  them 
they  should  not  be  hurt ;  to  keep  my 
people  together ;  and  to  be  on  my 
guard.  We  then  parted;  the  Cap- 
tain went  toward  Kowrowa,  where 
the  King  resided,  and  I  proceeded  to 
the  beach.  My  first  care  on  going 
ashore  was  to  give  strict  orders  to  the 
marines  to  remain  within  their  tent, 
to  load  their  pieces  with  ball,  and  not 
to  quit  their  arms.  Afterward  I  took 
a  walk  to  the  huts  of  old  Kaoo  and 
the  priests,  and  explained  to  them 
as  well  as  I  could  the  object  of  the 
hostile  preparations,  which  had  ex- 
ceedingly alarmed  them.  I  found 
that  they  had  already  heard  of  the 


333 

cutter's  being  stolen,  and  I  assured 
them,  that  though  Captain  Cook  was 
resolved  to  recover  it,  and  to  punish 
the  authors  of  the  theft,  yet  that  they 
and  the  people  of  the  village  on  our 
side  need  not  be  under  the  smallest 
apprehension  of  suffering  any  evil 
from  us.  I  desired  the  priests  to  ex- 
plain this  to  the  people,  and  to  tell 
them  not  to  be  alarmed,  but  to  con- 
tinue peaceable  and  quiet.  Kaoo 
asked  mo  with  great  earnestness  if 
Terreeoboo  was  to  be  hurt.  I  assured 
him  he  was  not ;  and  both  ho  and 
the  rest  of  his  brethren  seemed  much 
satisfied  with  this  assurance. 

In  the  meantime,  Captain  Cook 
having  called  off  the  launch,  which 
was  stationed  at  the  north  point  of  the 
bay,  and  taken  it  along  with  him, 
proceeded  to  Kowrowa,  and  landed 
with  the  lieutenant  and  nine  mar- 
ines. He  immediately  marched  into 
the  village,  where  he  was  received 
with  the  usual  marks  of  respect,  the 
people  prostrating  themselves  before 
him,  and  bringing  their  accustomed 
offerings  of  small  hogs.  Finding 
that  there  was  no  suspicion  of  his 
design,  his  next  step  was  to  inquire 
for  Terreeoboo,  and  the  two  boys,  his 
sons,  who  had  been  his  constant  guests 
on  board  the  Resolution.  In  a  short 
time  the  boys  returned  along  with  the 
natives  who  had  been  sent  in  search 
of  them,  and  immediately  led  Captain 
Cook  to  the  house  where  the  King 
had  slept.  They  found  the  old  man 
just  awoke  from  sleep  ;  and  after  a 
short  conversation  about  the  loss  of 
the  cutter,  from  which  Captain  Cook 
was  convinced  that  he  was  in  nowise 
privy  to  it,  he  invited  him  to  return 
in  the  boat  and  spend  the  day  on 
board  the  Resolution.  To  this  pro- 
posal the  King  readily  consented,  and 
immediately  got  up  to  accompany 
him. 

Things  were  in  this  prosperous 
train,  the  two  boys  being  already  in 
the  pinnace,  and  the  rest  af  the  party 
having  advanced  near  the  water-side, 
when  an  elderly  woman  called  Kanee- 
kabareea,  the  mother  of  the  boys,  and 
one  of  the  King's  favourite  wives, 
came  after  him,  and  with  many  tears 


334 

and  entreaties,  besought  him  not  to 
go  on  board.  At  the  same  time,  two 
chiefs,  who  came  along  with  her,  laid 
hold  of  him,  and  insisting  that  he 
should  go  no  farther,  forced  him  to 
sit  down.  The  natives,  who  were 
collecting  in  prodigious  numbers 
along  the  shore,  and  had  probably 
been  alarmed  by  the  firing  of  the 
great  gnns,  and  the  appearances  of 
hostility  in  the  bay,  began  to  throng 
round  Capain  Cook  and  their  King. 
In  this  situation  the  lieutenant  of 
marines,  observing  that  his  men  were 
huddled  close  together  in  the  crowd, 
and  thus  incapable  of  using  their 
arms  if  any  occasion  should  require  it, 
proposed  to  the  Captain  to  draw  them 
up  along  the  rocks  close  to  the  water's 
edge  ;  and  the  crowd  readily  making 
way  for  them  to  pass,  they  were  drawn 
up  in  a  line  at  the  distance  of  about 
thirty  yards  from  the  place  where  the 
King  was  sitting.  All  this  time,  the 
old  King  remained  on  the  ground, 
with  the  strongest  marks  of  terror 
and  dejection  in  his  countenance : 
Captain  Cook,  not  willing  to  abandon 
the  object  for  which  he  had  come  on 
shore,  continuing  to  urge  him  in  the 
most  pressing  manner  to  proceed ; 
whilst,  on  the  other  hand,  whenever 
the  King  appeared  inclined  to  follow 
him,  the  chiefs,  who  stood  round  him 
interposed,  at  first  with  prayers  and 
entreaties,  but  afterwards,  having 
recourse  to  force  and  violence,  insisted 
on  his  staying  where  he  was.  Captain 
Cook,  therefore,  finding  that  the 
alarm  had  spread  too  generally,  and 
that  it  was  in  vain  to  think  any 
longer  of  getting  him  off  without 
bloodshed,  at  last  gave  up  the  point, 
observing  to  Mr  Phillips  that  it 
would  be  impossible  to  compel  him 
to  go  on  board  without  the  risk  of 
killing  a  great  number  of  the  inhabit- 
ants. 

Though  the  enterprise  which  had 
carried  Captain  Cook  on  shore  had 
now  failed  and  was  abandoned,  yet  his 
person  did  not  appear  to  have  been  in 
the  least  danger  till  an  accident  hap- 
pened which  gave  a  fatal  turn  to  the 
affair.  The  boats  which  had  been 
stationed  across  the  bay  having  fired 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.       [VoY.III.B.V.Cii.III. 


at  some  canoes  that  were  attempting 
to  get  out,  unfortunately  had  killed  a 
chief  of  the  first  rank.  The  news  of 
his  death  arrived  at  the  village  where 
Captain  Cook  was,  just  as  he  had  left 
the  King,  and  was  walking  slowly 
toward  the  shore.  The  ferment  it 
occasioned  was  very  conspicuous,  the 
women  and  children  were  immediately 
sent  off,  and  the  men  put  on  their 
war-mats  and  armed  themselves  with 
spears  and  stones.  One  of  the  natives, 
having  in  his  hands  a  stone  and  a  long 
iron  spike  (which  they  call  a  "pa- 
hooa"),  came  up  to  the  Captain, 
flourishing  his  weapon  by  way  of  de- 
fiance, and  threatening  to  throw  the 
stone.  The  Captain  desired  him  to 
desist ;  but  the  man  persisting  in  his 
insolence,  he  was  at  length  provoked 
to  fire  a  load  of  small  shot.  The  man 
having  his  mat  .on,  which  the  shot 
was  not  able  to  penetrate,  this  had  no 
other  effect  than  to  irritate  and  en- 
courage them.  Several  stones  were 
thrown  at  the  marines  ;  and  one  of 
the  "Erees"  attempted  to  stab  Mr 
Phillips  with  his  "  pahooa, "  but  failed 
in  the  attempt,  and  received  from  him 
a  blow  with  the  butt  end  of  his  mus- 
ket. Captain  Cook  now  fired  his 
second  barrel,  loaded  with  ball,  and 
killed  one  of  the  foremost  of  the  na- 
tives. A  general  attack  with  stones 
immediately  followed,  which  was  an- 
swered by  a  discharge  of  musketry 
from  the  marines  and  the  people  in 
the  boats.  The  islanders,  contrary 
to  the  expectations  of  every  one,  stood 
the  fire  with  great  firmness  ;  and  be- 
fore the  marines  had  time  to  reload 
they  broke  iu  upon  them  with  dreadful 
shouts  and  yells.  What  followed  was 
a  scene  of  the  utmost  horror  and  con- 
fusion. Four  of  the  marines  were  cut 
off  amongst  the  rocks  in  their  retreat, 
and  fell  a  sacrifice  to  the  fury  of  the 
enemy  ;  three  more  were  dangerously 
wounded ;  and  the  lieutenant,  who  had 
received  a  stab  between  the  shoulders 
with  a  "pahooa,"  having  fortunately 
reserved  his  fire,  shot  the  man  who 
had  wounded  him  just  as  he  was  going 
to  repeat  his  blow.  Our  unfortunate 
commander,  the  last  time  he  was  seen 
distinctly,  was  standing  at  the  water's 


FEB.  1779.] 


DEATH  OF  CAPTAIN  COOK. 


335 


edge  and  calling  out  to  the  boats  to 
cease  firing  and  to  pull  in.  If  it  be 
true,  as  some  of  those  who  were  pre- 
sent have  imagined,  that  the  marines 
and  boatmen  had  fired  without  his 
orders,  and  that  he  was  desirous  of 
preventing  any  further  bloodshed,  it 
is  not  improbable  that  his  humanity 
on  this  occasion  proved  fatal  to  him. 
For  it  was  remarked  that  whilst  he 
faced  the  natives  none  of  them  had 
offered  him  any  violence,  but  that  hav- 
ing turned  about  to  give  his  orders  to 
the  boats,  he  was  stabbed  in  the  back, 
and  fell  with  his  face  into  the  water. 
On  seeing  him  fall,  the  islanders  set 
up  a  great  shout,  and  his  body  was 
immediately  dragged  on  shore  and  sur- 
rounded by  the  enemy,  who,  snatching 
the  dagger  out  of  each  other's  hands, 
showed  a  savage  eagerness  to  have  a 
share  in  his  destruction. 

Thus  fell  our  great  and  excellent 
commander  !  After  a  life  of  so  much 
distinguished  and  successful  enter- 
prise, his  death,  as  far  as  regards 
himself,  cannot  be  reckoned  prema- 
ture, since  he  lived  to  finish  the  great 
work  for  which  he  seems  to  have  been 
designed,  and  was  rather  removed  from 
the  enjoyment  than  cut  off  from  the 
acquisition  of  glory.  How  sincerely 
bis  loss  was  felt  and  lamented  by  those 
who  had  so  long  found  their  general 
security  in  his  skill  and  conduct,  and 
every  consolation  under  their  hard- 
ships in  his  tenderness  and  humanity, 
it  is  neither  necessary  nor  possible  for 
me  to  describe ;  much  less  shall  I 
attempt  to  paint  the  horror  with  which 
we  were  struclr,  and  the  universal  de- 
jection and  dismay  which  followed  so 
dreadful  and  unexpected  a  calamity.1 


CHAPTER  IV. 
IT  has  been  already  related  that  four 


1  Captain  King  occupies  the  rest  of 
the  Chapter  with  a  sketch  of  his  great 
chief's  career  and  an  eulogium  on  his 
abilities,  achievements,  and  character, 
that  is  stamped  with  the  eloquence  of 
heartfelt  affection  and  esteem. 


of  the  marines  who  attended  Captain 
Cook  were  killed  by  the  islanders  on 
the  spot.  The  rest,  with  Mr  Phillips, 
their  lieutenant,  threw  themselves  into 
the  water,  and  escaped  under  cover  of 
a  smart  fire  from  the  boats.  On  this 
occasion  a  remarkable  instance  of  gal- 
lant behaviour  and  of  affection  for  his 
men  was  shown  by  that  officer ;  for 
he  had  scarcely  got  into  the  boat, 
when  seeing  one  of  the  marines,  who 
was  a  bad  swimmer,  struggling  in  the 
water,  and  in  danger  of  being  taken 
by  the  enemy,  he  immediately  jumped 
into  the  sea  to  his  assistance,  though 
much  wounded  himself ;  and  after 
receiving  a  blow  on  the  head  from  a 
stone,  which  had  nearly  sent  him  to 
the  bottom,  he  caught  the  man  by 
the  hair  and  brought  him  safe  off. 
Our  people  continued  for  some  time  to 
keep  up  a  constant  fire  from  the  boats 
(which  during  the  whole  transaction 
were  not  more  than  twenty  yards  from 
the  land),  in  order  to  afford  their  un- 
fortunate companions,  if  any  of  them 
should  still  remain  alive,  an  oppor- 
tunity of  escaping.  These  efforts, 
seconded  by  a  few  guns  that  were 
fired  at  the  same  time  from  the  Resolu- 
tion, having  forced  the  natives  at  last 
to  retire,  a  small  boat  manned  by  five 
of  our  young  midshipmen  pulled  to- 
wards the  shore,  where  they  saw  the 
bodies,  without  any  signs  of  life,  lying 
on  the  ground  ;  but  judging  it  dan- 
gerous to  attempt  to  bring  them  off 
with  so  small  a  force,  and  their  am- 
munition being  nearly  expended,  they 
returned  to  the  ships,  leaving  them 
in  possession  of  the  islanders,  together 
with  ten  stands  of  arms. 

As  soon  as  the  general  consternation 
which  the  news  of  this  calamity  occa- 
sioned throughout  both  crews  had  a 
little  subsided,  their  attention  was 
called  to  our  party  at  the  "morai," 
where  the  mast  and  sails  were  on  shore 
with  a  guard  of  only  six  marines.  It 
is  impossible  for  me  to  describe  the 
emotions  of  my  own  mind  during  the 
time  these  transactions  had  been  car- 
rying on  at  the  other  side  of  the  bay. 
Being  at  the  distance  only  of  a  short 
mile  from  the  village  of  Kowrowa,  we 
could  see  distinctly  an  immense  crowd 


336 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.        [VoY.  III.  B.  V.  CH.  IV. 


collected  on  the  spot  where  Captain 
Cook  had  just  before  landed.  We 
heard  the  firing  of  the  musketry,  and 
could  perceive  some  extraordinary 
bustle  and  agitation  in  the  multitude. 
"We  afterward  saw  the  natives  flying, 
the  boats  retire  from  the  shore,  and 
passing  and  repassing  in  great  stillness 
between  the  ships.  I  must  confess  that 
my  heart  soon  misgave  me.  Where 
a  life  so  dear  and  valuable  was  con- 
cerned, it  was  impossible  not  to  be 
alai-med  by  appearances  both  new  and 
threatening.  But  besides  this,  1  knew 
that  a  long  and  uninterrupted  course 
of  success  in  his  transactions  with  the 
natives  of  these  seas  had  given  the 
Captain  a  degree  of  confidence  that  I 
was  always  fearful  might,  at  some  un- 
lucky moment,  put  him  too  much  off 
his  guard ;  and  I  now  saw  all  the  dan- 
gers to  which  that  confidence  might 
lead,  without  receiving  much  conso- 
lation from  considering  the  experience 
that  had  given  rise  to  it.  My  first 
care,  on  hearing  the  muskets  fired, 
was  to  assure  the  people  who  were 
assembled  in  considerable  numbers 
round  the  wall  of  our  consecrated 
field,  and  seemed  equally  at  a  loss 
with  ourselves  how  to  account  for 
what  they  had  seen  and  heard,  that 
Shey  should  not  be  molested ;  and  that 
at  all  events  I  was  desirous  of  con- 
tinuing on  peaceable  terms  with  them. 
We  remained  in  this  posture  till  the 
boats  had  returned  on  board,  when 
Captain  Clerke  observing  through  his 
telescope  that  we  were  surrounded  by 
the  natives,  and  apprehending  they 
meant  to  attack  us,  ordered  two  four- 
pounders  to  be  fired  at  them.  For- 
tunately these  guns,  though  well 
aimed,  did  no  mischief,  and  yet  gave 
the  natives  a  convincing  proof  of  their 
power.  One  of  the  balls  broke  a  cocoa- 
nut  tree  in  the  middle  under  which  a 
party  of  them  were  sitting  ;  and  the 
other  shivered  a  rock  that  stood  in  an 
exact  line  with  them.  As  I  had  just 
before  given  them  the  strongest  assur- 
ances of  their  safetj'-,  I  was  exceedingly 
mortified  at  this  act  of  hostility ;  and, 
to  prevent  a  repetition  of  it,  imme- 
diately despatched  a  boat  to  acquaint 
Captain  Clerke  that  at  present  I  was 


on  the  most  friendly  terms  with  the 
natives  ;  and  that,  if  occasion  should 
hereafter  arise  for  altering  my  conduct 
toward  them,  I  would  hoist  a  jack  as 
a  signal  for  him  to  afford  us  all  the 
assistance  in  his  power. 

We  expected  the  return  of  the  boat 
with  the  utmost  impatience ;  and  after 
remaining  a  quarter  of  an  hour  under 
the  most  torturing  anxiety  and  sus- 
pense, our  fears  were  at  length  con- 
firmed by  the  arrival  of  Mr  Bligh, 
with  orders  to  strike  the  tents  as 
quickly  as  possible  and  to  send  the 
sails  that  were  repairing  on  board. 
Just  at  the  same  moment  our  friend 
Kaireekeea,  having  also  received  in- 
telligence of  the  death  of  Captain 
Cook  from  a  native  who  had  arrived 
from  the  other  side  of  the  bay,  came 
to  me  with  great  sorrow  and  dejection, 
in  his  countenance,  to  inquire  if  it 
was  true.  Our  situation  was  at  this 
time  extremely  critical  and  import- 
ant ;  not  only  our  own  lives,  but  the 
event  of  the  expedition  and  the  return 
of  at  least  one  of  the  ships  being  in- 
volved in  the  same  common  danger. 
We  had  the  mast  of  the  Resolution, 
and  the  greatest  part  of  our  sails,  on 
shore,  under  the  protection  of  only 
six  marines;  their  loss  would  have 
been  irreparable;  and  though  the 
natives  had  not  as  yet  shown  the 
smallest  disposition  to  molest  us,  yet 
it  was  impossible  to  answer  for  the 
alteration  which  the  news  of  the  trans- 
action at  Kowrowa  might  produce. 
I  therefore  thought  it  prudent  to  dis- 
semble my  belief  of  the  death  of  Cap- 
tain Cook,  and  to  desire  Kaireekeea 
to  discourage  the  report  lest  either 
the  fear  of  our  resentment,  or  the 
successful  example  of  their  country- 
men, might  lead  them  to  seize  the 
favourable  opportunity  which  at  this 
time  offered  itself  of  giving  us  a 
second  blow.  At  the  same  time,  I 
advised  him  to  bring  old  Kaoo  and  the 
rest  of  the  priests  into  a  large  house 
that  was  close  to  the  "  morai,"  partly 
out  of  regard  to  their  safety  in  case  it 
should  have  been  found  necessary  to 
proceed  to  extremities,  and  partly  to 
have  him  near  us  in  order  to  make 
use  of  his  authority  with  the  people 


WARLIKE  ATTITUDE  OF  THE  NATIVES.  337 


FEB.  1779.] 

if  it  could  be  instrumental  in  preserv- 
ing peace. 

Having  placed  the  marines  on  the 
top  of  the  "morai,"  which  formed  a 
strong  and  advantageous  post,  and 
left  the  command  with  Mr  Bligh, 
giving  him  the  most  positive  direc- 
tions to  act  entirely  on  the  defensive, 
I  went  on  board  the  Discovery  in 
order  to  represent  to  Captain  Clerke 
the  dangerous  situation  of  our  affairs. 
As  soon  as  I  quitted  the  spot  the 
natives  began  to  annoy  our  people 
with  stones,  and  I  had  scarcely  reached 
the  ship  before  I  heard  the  firing  of 
the  marines.  I  therefore  returned 
instantly  on  shore,  where  I  found 
tilings  growing  every  moment  more 
alarming.  The  natives  were  arming 
and  putting  on  their  mats,  and  their 
numbers  increased  very  fast.  I  could 
also  perceive  several  large  bodies 
marching  towards  us  along  the  cliff 
which  separates  the  village  of  Kakooa 
from  the  north  side  of  the  bay,  where 
the  village  of  Kowrowa  is  situated. 
They  began  at  first  to  attack  us  with 
etones  from  behind  the  walls  of  their 
enclosures,  and  finding  no  resistance  on 
our  part,  they  soon  grew  more  daring. 
A  few  resolute  fellows,  having  crept 
along  the  beach  under  cover  of  the 
rocks,  suddenly  made  their  appearance 
at  the  foot  of  the  "morai,"  with  a 
design,  as  it  seemed,  of  storming  it 
on  the  side  next  the  sea,  which  was 
its  only  accessible  part;  and  were  not 
dislodged  till  after  they  had  stood  a 
considerable  number  of  shot  and  seen 
one  of  their  party  fall.  The  bravery  of 
one  of  these  assailants  well  deserves 
to  be  particularly  mentioned.  For 
having  returned  to  carry  off  his  com- 
panion amidst  the  fire  of  our  whole 
party,  a  wound  which  he  received 
made  him  quit  the  body  and  retire ; 
but  in  a  few  minutes  he  again  ap- 
peared, and  being  again  wounded, 
he  was  obliged  a  second  time  to  re- 
treat. At  this  moment  I  arrived  at 
the  "morai,"  and  saw  him  return 
the  third  time,  bleeding  and  faint ; 
and  being  informed  of  what  had 
happened,  I  forbade  the  soldiers  to 
fire,  and  he  was  suffered  to  carry  off 
his  friend,  which  he  was  just  able 


to  perform,  and  then  fell  down  him- 
self and  expired. 

About  this  time,  a  strong  reinforce- 
ment from  both  ships  having  landed, 
the  natives  retreated  behind  their  walls, 
which  giving  ine  access  to  our  friendly 
priests,  I  sent  one  of  them  to  endea- 
vour to  bring  their  countrymen  to 
some  terms,  and  to  propose  to  them 
that  if  they  would  desist  from  throw- 
ing stones  I  would  not  permit  our 
men  to  fire.  This  truce  was  agreed 
to,  and  we  were  suffered  to  launch  the 
mast  and  carry  off  the  saijs  and  our 
astronomical  apparatus  unmolested. 
As  soon  as  we  had  quitted  the  "morai," 
they  took  possession  of  it,  and  some 
of  them  threw  a  few  stones,  but  with- 
out doing  us  any  mischief.  It  was 
half-an-hour  past  }1  o'clock  when  I  got 
on  board  the  Discoyery,  where  I  found 
no  decisive  plan  had  been  adopted  for 
our  future  proceedings.  The  restitu- 
tion of  the  bpat,  and  the  recovery  of 
the  body  of  Captain  Cook,  were  the 
objects  which  on  all  hands  we  agreed 
to  insist  on ;  and  it  was  my  opinion 
that  some  vigorous  steps  should  be 
taken  in  case  the  demand  of  them  was 
not  immediately  complied  with. 

Though  my  feelings  on  the  death 
of  a  beloved  and  honoured  friend  may 
be  suspected  to  have  tad  some  share 
in  this  opinion,  yet  there  were  cer- 
tainly other  reasons,  and  those  of 
the  most  serious  kind,  that  had  con- 
siderable weight  with  me.  The  con- 
fidence which  their  supcess  in  killing 
our  chief  and  forcing  us  to  quit  the 
shore  must  naturally  have  inspired, 
and  the  advantage,  however  trifling, 
which  they  had  obtained  over  us  the 
preceding  day,  would,  I  had  no  doubt, 
encourage  them  to  maice  gome  furth*? 
dangerous  attempts;  ami  the  more 
especially  as  they  had  little  reason, 
from  what  they  had  hitherto  seen,  to 
dread  the  effects  of  our  fire-arms.  In- 
deed, contrary  to  the  expectations  of 
every  one,  this  sort  of  weapon  had 
produced  no  signs  of  terrbr  in  them. 
On  our  side,  such  was  the  condition 
of  the  ships,  and  the  state  of  discipline 
amongst  us,  that  had  a  vigorous 
attack  been  made  on  us  in  the  night 


it  would    have    been 


impossible  to 
T 


338 

answer  for  the  consequences.  In  these 
apprehensions  I  was  supported  by  the 
opinion  of  most  of  the  officers  on 
hoard,  and  nothing  seemed  to  me 
so  likely  to  encourage  the  natives  to 
make  the  attempt  as  the  appearance 
of  our  being  inclined  to  an  accommo- 
dation which  they  could  only  attri- 
bute to  weakness  or  fear. 

In  favour  of  more  conciliatory  mea- 
sures, it  was  justly  urged  that  the 
mischief  was  done,  and  irreparable  ; 
that  the  natives  had  a  strong  claim  to 
our  regard  on  account  of  their  former 
friendship  and  kindness,  and  the 
more  especially  as  the  late  melancholy 
accident  did  not  appear  to  have 
arisen  from  any  premeditated  design ; 
that,  on  the  part  of  Terreeobop,  his 
ignorance  of  the  theft,  his  readiness 
to  accompany  Captain  Cook  on  board, 
and  his  having  actually  sent  his  two 
sons  into  the  boat,  must  free  him 
from  the  smallest  degree  of  suspicion ; 
that  the  conduct  of  his  women  and 
the  "  Erees  "  might  easily  be  ac- 
counted for,  from  the  apprehensions 
occasioned  by  the  armed  force  with 
which  Captain  Cook  came  on  shore, 
and  the  hostile  preparations  in  the 
bay,  appearances  so  different  from  the 
terms  of  friendship  and  confidence  in 
which  both  parties  had  hitherto  lived, 
that  the  arming  of  the  natives  was 
evidently  with  a  design  to  resist  the 
attempt,  which  they  had  some  reason 
to  imagine  would  be  made,  to  carry  off 
their  King  by  force,  and  was  naturally 
to  be  expected  from  a  people  full  of  af- 
fection and  attachment  to  their  chiefs. 
To  these  motives  of  humanity  others 
of  a  prudential  nature  were  added; 
that  we  were  in  want  of  water  and 
other  refreshments ;  that  our  fore- mast 
would  require  six  or  eight  days'  work 
before  it  could  be  stepped ;  that  the 
spring  was  advancing  apace,  and  that 
the  speedy  prosecution  of  our  next 
northern  expedition  ought  now  to  be 
our  sole  object ;  that  therefore  to  en- 
gage in  a  vindictive  contest  with  the 
inhabitants  might  not  only  lay  us 
under  the  imputation  of  unnecessary 
cruelty,  but  would  occasion  an  un- 
avoidable delay  in  the  equipment  of 
the  ships.  In  this  latti  '  opinion  Cap- 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.        [YoT.  III.  B.  V.  CH,  IV. 


tain  Clerke  concurred,  and  though  I 
was  convinced  that  an  early  display  of 
vigorous  resentment  would  more  effec- 
tually have  answered  every  object 
both  of  prudence  and  humanity,  I 
was  not  sorry  that  the  measures  I 
had  recommended  were  rejected.  For 
though  the  contemptuous  behaviour 
of  the  natives,  and  their  subsequent 
opposition  to  our  necessary  operations 
on  shore,  arising  I  have  no  doubt 
from  misconstruction  of  our  lenity, 
compelled  us  at  last  to  have  recourse 
to  violence  in  our  own  defence ;  yet  I 
am  not  so  sure  that  the  circumstances 
of  the  case  would,  in  the  opinion  of 
the  world,  have  justified  the  use  of 
force  on  our  part  in  the  first  instance. 
Cautionary  rigour  is  at  all  times  in- 
vidious, and  has  this  additional  ob- 
jection to  it,  that  the  severity  of  a 
preventive  course,  when  it  best  suc- 
ceeds, leaves  its  expediency  the  least 
apparent. 

During  the  time  we  were  thus  en- 
gaged in  concerting  some  plan  for  our 
future  conduct,  a  prodigious  concourse 
of  natives  still  kept  possession  of  the 
shore ;  and  some  of  them  came  off  in 
canoes,  and  had  the  boldness  to  ap- 
proach within  pistol-shot  of  the  ships 
and  to  insult  us  by  various  marks  of 
contempt  and  defiance.  It  was  with 
great  difficulty  we  could  restrain  the 
sailors  from  the  use  of  their  arms  on 
these  occasions;  but  as  pacific  mea- 
sures had  been  resolved  on,  the  canoes 
were  suffered  to  return  unmolested. 
In  pursuance  of  this  plan,  it  was  de- 
termined that  I  should  proceed  to- 
wards the  shore  with  the  boats  of  both 
ships,  well  manned  and  armed,  with 
a  view  to  bring  the  natives  to  a 
parley,  and  if  possible  to  obtain  a 
conference  with  some  of  the  chiefs. 
If  this  attempt  succeeded,  I  was  to 
demand  the  dead  bodies,  and  particu- 
larly that  of  Captain  Cook ;  to  threaten 
them  with  our  vengeance  in  case  of  a 
refusal ;  but  by  no  means  to  fire  un- 
less attacked,  and  not  to  land  on  any 
account  whatever.  These  orders  were 
delivered  to  me  before  the  whole  party 
and  in  the  most  positive  manner. 

I  left  the  ships  about  4  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon,  and  as  we  approached 


FEB.  1779.]  PERFIDY  OF  KOAH 
the  shore  I  perceived  every  indication 
of  a  hostile  reception.  The  whole 
crowd  of  natives  was  in  motion,  the 
women  and  children  retiring,  the  men 
putting  on  their  war-mats  and  arm- 
ing themselves  with  long  spears  and 
daggers.  "We  also  observed  that  since 
the  morning  they  had  thrown  up  stone 
breastworks  along  the  beach  where 
Captain  Cook  had  landed,  probably 
in  expectation  of  an  attack  at  that 
place ;  and  as  soon  as  we  were  within 
reacli  they  began  to  throw  stones  at 
us  with  slings,  but  without  doing 
any  mischief.  Concluding,  therefore, 
that  all  attempts  to  bring  them  to  a 
parley  would  be  in  vain  unless  I  first 
gave  them  some  ground  for  mutual 
confidence,  I  ordered  the  armed  boats 
to  stop  and  went  on  in  the  small 
boat  alone,  with  a  white  flag  in  my 
hand,  which,  by  a  general  cry  of  joy 
from  the  natives,  I  had  the  satisfac- 
tion to  find  was  instantly  understood. 
The  worn  en  immediately  returned  from 
the  side  of  the  hill  whither  they  had 
retired ;  the  men  threw  off  their  mats ; 
and  all  sat  down  together  by  the 
water-side,  extending  their  arms  and 
inviting  me  to  come  on  shore. 

Though  this  behaviour  was  very 
expressive  of  a  friendly  disposition, 
yet  I  could  not  help  entertaining 
some  suspicions  of  its  sincerity.  But 
when  I  saw  Koah,  with  a  boldness 
and  assurance  altogether  unaccount- 
able, swimming  off  towards  the  boat 
with  a  white  flag  in  his  hand,  I 
thought  it  necessary  to  return  this 
mark  of  confidence,  and  therefore  re- 
ceived him  into  the  boat,  though 
armed,  a  circumstance  which  did  not 
tend  to  lessen  my  suspicions.  I  must 
confess  I  had  long  harboured  an  un- 
favourable opinion  of  this  man.  The 
priests  had  always  told  us  that  he 
was  of  a  malicious  disposition,  and  no 
friend  of  purs ;  and  the  repeated  detec- 
tions of  his  fraud  and  treachery  had 
convinced  us  of  the  truth  of  their  re- 
presentations. Add  to  all  this,  the 
shocking  transaction  of  the  morning, 
in  which  he  was  seen  acting  a  princi- 
pal part,  made  me  feel  the  utmost 
horror  at  finding  myself  so  near  him ; 
and  as  he  came  up  to  me  with  feigned 


AND  THE  CHIEFS.  339 

tears  and  embraced  me,  I  was  so  dis- 
trustful of  his  intentions  that  I  could 
not  help  taking  hold  of  the  point  of 
the  "pahooah  "  which  he  held  in  his 
hand  and  turning  it  from  me.  I  told 
him  that  I  had  come  to  demand  the 
body  of  Captain  Cook,  and  to  declare 
war  against  them  unless  it  was  in- 
stantly restored.  He  assured  me 
this  should  be  done  as  soon  as  pos- 
sible, and  that  he  would  go  himself 
for  that  purpose  ;  and,  after  begging 
of  me  a  piece  of  iron  with  much  a* 
surance,  as  if  nothing  extraordinary 
had  happened,  he  leaped  into  the  sea 
and  swam  ashore,  calling  out  to  his 
countrymen  that  we  were  all  friends 


We  waited  near  an  hour  with  great 
anxiety  for  his  return,  during  which 
time  the  rest  of  the  boats  had  ap- 
proached so  near  the  shore  as  to  enter 
into  conversation  with  a  party  of  the 
natives  at  some  distance  from  us,  by 
whom  they  were  plainly  given  to 
understand  that  the  body  had  been 
cut  to  pieces  and  carried  up  the 
country ;  but  of  this  circumstance  I 
was  not  informed  till  our  return  to 
the  ships.  I  began  now  to  express 
some  impatience  at  Koah's  delay, 
upon  which  the  chiefs  pressed  me 
exceedingly  to  come  on  snore,  assur- 
ing me  that  if  I  would  go  myself  to 
Terreeoboo  the  body  would  certainly 
be  restored  to  me.  When  they  found 
they  could  not  prevail  on  me  to  land, 
they  attempted,  under  a  pretence  of 
wishing  to  converse  with  more  ease, 
to  decoy  our  boat  among  some  rocks 
where  they  would  have  had  it  in  their 
power  to  cut  us  off  from  the  rest.  It 
was  no  difficult  matter  to  see  through 
these  artifices,  and  I  was  therefore 
strongly  inclined  to  break  off  all 
further  communication  with  them, 
when  a  chief  came  to  us  who  was  the 
particular  friend  of  Captain  Clerke 
and  of  the  officers  of  the  Discovery, 
on  board  which  ship  he  had  sailed 
when  we  last  left  the  bay,  intending 
to  take  his  passage  to  Mowee.  He 
told  us  he  came  from  Terreeoboo  to 
acquaint  us,  that  the  body  was  car- 
ried up  the  country,  'but  that  it  should 
be  brought  to  us  the  next  morning. 


840 

There  appeared  a  great  deal  of  sin- 
cerity in  his  manner,  and  being  asked 
if  he  told  a  falsehood,  he  hooked  his 
two  fore-fingers  together,  which  is 
understood  amongst  these  islanders 
as  the  sign  of  truth,  in  the  use  of 
which  they  are  very  scrupulous. 

As  I  was  now  at  a  loss  in  what 
manner  to  proceed,  I  sent  Mr  Van- 
couver to  acquaint  Captain  Clerke 
with  all  that  had  passed;  that  my 
opinion  was,  they  meant  not  to  keep 
their  word  with  us,  and  were  so  far 
from  being  sorry  at  what  had  hap- 
pened, that  on  the  contrary  they  were 
full  of  spirits  and  confidence  on  ac- 
count of  their  late  success,  and  sought 
only  to  gain  time  till  they  could  con- 
trive some  scheme  for  getting  us  into 
their  power.  Mr  Vancouver  came 
back  with  orders  for  me  to  return  on 
board ;  having  first  given  the  natives 
to  understand  that  if  the  body  was 
not  brought  the  next  morning  the 
town  should  be  destroyed.  When 
they  saw  that  we  were  going  off  they 
endeavoured  to  provoke  us  by  the 
most  insulting  and  contemptuous  ges- 
tures. Some  of  our  people  said  they 
could  distinguish  several  of  the  na- 
tives parading  about  in  the  clothes  of 
our  unfortunate  comrades ;  and  among 
them  a  chief  brandishing  Captain 
Cook's  hanger,  and  a  woman  holding 
the  scabbard.  Indeed,  there  can  be 
no  doubt  but  that  our  behaviour  had 
given  them  a  mean  opinion  of  our  cour- 
age ;  for  they  could  have  but  little  no- 
tion of  the  motives  of  humanity  that 
directed  it. 

In  consequence  of  the  report  I  made 
to  Captain  Clerke  of  what  I  conceived 
to  be  the  present  temper  and  disposi- 
tion of  the  islanders,  the  most  effect- 
ual measures  were  taken  to  guard 
against  any  attack  they  might  make 
in  the  night.  The  boats  were  moored 
with  top-chains ;  additional  sentinels 
were  posted  on  both  ships  ;  and  guard 
boats  were  stationed  to  row  round 
them,  in  order  to  prevent  the  natives 
from  cutting  the  cables.  During  the 
night  we  observed  a  prodigious  num- 
ber of  lights  on  the  hills,  which  made 
some  of  us  imagine  they  were  remov- 
ing their  effects  back  into  the  country 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.        [VoY.III.B.  V.CE.IV. 


in  consequence  of  our  threats.  But 
I  rather  believed  them  to  have  been 
the  sacrifices  that  were  performing  on 
account  of  the  war  in  which  they 
imagined  themselves  about  to  be  en- 
gaged ;  and  most  probably  the  bodies 
of  our  slain  countrymen  were  at  that 
time  burning.  We  afterward  saw 
fires  of  the  same  kind  as  we  passed 
the  Island  of  Morotoi,  and  which,  we 
were  told  by  some  natives  then  on 
board,  were  made  on  account  of  the 
war  they  had  declared  against  a  neigh- 
bouring island.  And  this  agrees  with 
what  we  learned  amongst  the  Friendly 
and  Society  Isles,  that  previous  to 
any  expedition  against  an  enemy,  the 
chiefs  always  endeavoured  to  animate 
and  inflame  the  courage  of  the  people 
by  feasts  and  rejoicings  in  the  night. 
We  remained  the  whole  night  un- 
disturbed except  by  the  howlings  and 
lamentations  which  were  heard  on 
shore ;  and  early  the  next  morning, 
Koah  came  alongside  the  Resolution 
with  a  present  of  cloth  and  a  small 
pig,  which  he  desired  leave  to  present 
to  me.  I  have  mentioned  before  that 
I  was  supposed  by  the  natives  to  be  the 
son  of  Captain  Cook  ;  and  as  he  in  his 
lifetime  had  always  suffered  them  to 
believe  it,  I  was  probably  considered  as 
the  chief  after  his  death.  As  soon  as  I 
came  on  deck  I  questioned  him  about 
the  body ;  and,  on  his  returning  me 
nothing  but  evasive  answers,  I  refused 
to  accept  his  presents,  and  was  going 
to  dismiss  him  with  some  expressions 
of  anger  and  resentment,  had  not 
Captain  Clerke,  judging  it  best  at  all 
events  to  keep  up  the  appearance  of 
friendship,  thought  it  more  proper 
that  he  should  be  treated  with  the 
usual  respect.  This  treacherous  fel- 
low came  frequently  to  us  during  the 
course  of  the  forenoon  with  some 
trifling  present  or  other ;  and  as  I 
always  observed  him  eyeing  every 

nt  of  the  ship  with  great  attention, 
ook  care  he  should  see  we  were 
well  prepared  for  our  defence.  He 
was  exceedingly  urgent  both  with 
Captain  Clerke  and  myself  to  go  on 
shore,  laying  all  the  blame  of  the 
detention  of  the  bodies  on  the  other 
chiefs,  and  assuring  us  that  every- 


FEB.  1779.]      EECOVERY  OF  PART  OF  COOK'S  BODY. 


341 


thing  might  be  settled  to  our  satis- 
faction by  a  personal  interview  with 
Terreeoboo.  However,  his  conduct 
was  too  suspicious  to  make  it  prudent 
to  comply  with  this  request ;  and, 
indeed,  a  fact  came  afterward  to  our 
knowledge  which  proved  the  entire 
falsehood  of  his  pretensions.  For  we 
were  told  that  immediately  after  the 
action  in  which  Captain  Cook  was 
killed,  the  old  King  had  retired  to  a 
cave  in  the  steep  part  of  the  moun- 
tain that  hangs  over  the  bay,  which 
was  accessible  only  by  the  help  of 
ropes,  and  where  he  remained  for 
many  days,  having  his  victuals  let 
down  to  him  by  cords. 

When  Koah  returned  from  the 
ships,  we  could  perceive  that  his 
countrymen,  who  had  been  collected 
by  break  of  day  in  vast  crowds  on  the 
shore,  thronged  about  him  with  great 
eagerness,  as  if  to  learn  the  intelli- 
gence he  had  acquired,  and  what  was  to 
be  done  in  consequence  of  it.  It  is  very 
probable  that  they  expected  we  should 
attempt  to  put  our  threats  in  execu- 
tion ;  and  they  seemed  fully  resolved 
to  stand  their  ground.  During  the 
whole  morning  we  heard  conches 
blowing  in  different  parts  of  the 
coast ;  large  parties  were  seen  march- 
ing over  the  hills  ;  and,  in  short,  ap- 
pearances were  so  alarming  that  we 
carried  out  a  stream  anchor,  to  enable 
us  to  haul  the  ship  abreast  of  the 
town  in  case  of  an  attack,  and  sta- 
tioned boats  off  the  north  point  of  the 
bay  to  prevent  a  surprise  from  that 
quarter.  The  breach  of  their  engage- 
ment to  restore  the  bodies  of  the 
slain,  and  the  warlike  posture  in 
which  they  at  this  time  appeared, 
occasioned  fresh  debates  amongst  us 
concerning  the  measures  next  to  be 
pursued.  It  was  at  last  determined 
that  nothing  should  be  suffered  to 
interfere  with  the  repair  of  the  mast, 
and  the  preparations  for  our  depart- 
ure ;  but  that  we  should  nevertheless 
continue  our  negotiations  for  the  re- 
covery of  the  bodies.  The  greatest  part 
of  the  day  was  taken  up  in  getting 
the  fore-mast  into  a  proper  situation 
on  deck  for  the  carpenters  to  work 
upon  it,  and  in  making  the  necessary 


alterations  in  the  commissions  of  the 
officers.  The  command  of  the  expe- 
dition having  devolved  upon  Captain 
Clerke,  he  removed  on  board  the  Re- 
solution, appointed  Lieutenant  Gore 
to  be  captain  of  the  Discovery,  and 
promoted  Mr  Harvey,  a  midshipman 
who  had  been  with  Captain  Cook  in 
his  two  last  voyages,  to  the  Vacant 
lieutenan/y.  During  the  whole  day 
we  met  with  no  interruption  from  the 
natives  ;  and  at  night  the  launch  was 
again  moored  with  a  top-chain,  and 
guard  boats  stationed  round  both 
ships  as  before. 

About  8  o'clock,  it  being  very  dark, 
a  canoe  was  heard  paddling  toward 
the  ship,  and  as  soon  as  it  was  seen 
both  the  sentinels  on  deck  fired  into 
it.  There  were  two  persons  in  the 
canoe,  and  they  immediately  roared 
out  "Tinnee"  (which  was  the  way 
in  which  they  pronounced  my  name), 
and  said  they  were  friends,  and  had 
something  for  me  belonging  to  Cap- 
tain Cook.  When  they  came  on  board, 
they  threw  themselves  at  our  feet, 
and  appeared  exceedingly  frightened. 
Luckily  neither  of  them  was  hurt, 
notwithstanding  the  balls  of  both 
pieces  had  gone  through  the  canoe. 
One. of  them  was  the  person  whom  I 
have  before  mentioned  under  the  name 
of  the  taboo  man,  who  constantly 
attended  Captain  Cook,  with  the  cir- 
cumstances of  ceremony  I  have  already 
described,  and  who,  though  a  man  of 
rank  in  the  island,  could  scarcely  be 
hindered  from  performing  the  lowest 
offices  of  a  menial  servant.  After 
lamenting  with  abundance  of  tears 
the  loss  of  the  "Orono,"  he  told  us 
that  he  had  brought  us  a  part  of  his 
body.  He  then  presented  to  us  a 
small  bundle  wrapped  up  in  cloth, 
which  he  brought  under  his  arm ;  and 
it  is  impossible  to  describe  the  horror 
which  seized  us  on  finding  in  it  a 
piece  of  human  flesh  about  nine  or 
ten  pounds  weight.  This,  he  said, 
was  all  that  remained  of  the  body ; 
that  the  rest  was  cut  to  pieces  and 
burnt,  but  that  the  head  and  all  the 
bones,  except  what  belonged  to  the 
trunk,  wer«  in  the  possession  of  Ter- 
reeoboo and  the  other  "Ereesj"  that 


342 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.       [V  JY.  III.  B.  V.  CH.  TV. 


what  w«  saw  had  been  allotted  to 
Kaoo,  the  chief  of  the  priests,  to  be 
made  use  of  in  some  religious  cere- 
mony ;  and  that  he  had  sent  it  as  a 
proof  of  his  innocence  and  attachment 
to  us. 

This  afforded  an  opportunity  of  in- 
forming ourselves  whether  they  were 
cannibals,  and  we  did  not  neglect  it. 
We  first  tried  by  many  indirect 
questions,  put  to  each  of  them  apart, 
to  learn  in  what  manner  the  rest  of 
the  bodies  had  been  disposed  of  ;  and 
finding  them  very  constant  in  one 
story,  that  after  the  flesh  had  been 
cut  off  it  was  all  burnt,  we  at  last  put 
the  direct  question,  whether  they  had 
not  eat  some  of  it.  They  immedi- 
ately showed  as  much  horror  at  the 
idea  as  any  European  would  have 
done ;  and  asked  very  naturally  if 
that  was  the  custom  amongst  us. 
They  afterward  asked  us  with  great 
earnestness  and  apparent  apprehen- 
sion, "When  the  'Orono'  would 
come  again  ?  and  what  he  would  do  to 
them  on  his  return?"  The  same  in- 
quiry was  frequently  made  afterward 
by  others  ;  and  this  idea  agrees  with 
the  general  tenor  of  their  conduct  to- 
ward him,  which  showed  that  they 
considered  him  as  a  being  of  a  supe- 
rior nature.  We  pressed  our  two 
friendly  visitors  to  remain  on  board 
till  morning,  but  in  vain.  They  told 
us  that  if  this  transaction  should 
come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  King 
or  chiefs,  it  might  be  attended  with 
the  most  fatal  consequences  to  their 
whole  society,  in  order  to  prevent 
which  they  had  been  obliged  to  come 
off  to  us  in  the  dark  ;  and  that  the 
same  precaution  would  be  necessary 
in  returning  on  shore.  They  informed 
us  further,  that  the  chiefs  were  eager 
to  revenge  the  death  of  their  country- 
men ;  and  particularly  cautioned  us 
against  trusting  Koali,  who,  they 
said,  was  our  mortal  and  implacable 
enemy,  and  desired  nothing  more 
ardently  than  an  opportunity  of  fight- 
ing us,  to  which  the  blowing  of  the 
conches  we  had  heard  in  the  morning 
was  meant  as  a  challenge.  We 
learned  from  these  men  that  seven- 
teen of  their  countrymen  were  killed 


in  the  first  actic'j  at  Kowrowa,  of  whom 
five  were  chiefs  ;  and  that  Kaneena 
and  his  brother,  our  very  particular 
friends,  were  unfortunately  of  that 
number.  Eight,  they  said,  were  killed 
at  the  observatory,  three  of  whom 
were  also  of  the  first  rank.  About 
11  o'clock  our  two  friends  left  us, 
and  took  the  precaution  to  desire  that 
our  guard  boat  might  attend  them  till 
they  had  passed  the  Discovery,  lest 
they  should  again  be  fired  upon, 
which  might  alarm  their  countrymen 
on  shore,  and  expose  them  to  the 
danger  of  being  discovered.  This 
request  was  complied  with,  and  we 
had  the  satisfaction  to  find  that 
they  got  safe  and  undiscovered  to 
land. 

During  the  remainder  of  this  niglit 
we  heard  the  same  loud  howling  and 
lamentations  as  in  the  preceding  one. 
Early  in  the  morning  we  received  an- 
other visit  from  Koah.  I  must  confess 
I  was  a  little  piqued  to  find  that,  not- 
withstanding the  most  evident  marks 
of  treachery  in  his  conduct,  and  the 
positive  testimony  of  our  friends  the 
priests,  he  should  still  be  permitted 
to  carry  on  the  same  farce,  and  to 
make  us  at  least  appear  to  be  the 
dupes  of  his  hypocrisy.  Indeed,  our 
situation  was  become  extremely  awk- 
ward and  unpromising ;  none  of  the 
purposes  for  which  this  pacific  course 
of  proceeding  had  been  adopted  having 
hitherto  been  in  the  least  forwarded 
by  it.  No  satisfactory  answer  what- 
ever had  been  given  to  our  demands  ; 
we  did  not  seem  to  be  at  all  ad- 
vanced toward  a  reconciliation  with 
the  islanders ;  they  still  kept  in  force 
on  the  shore,  as  if  determined  to  resist 
any  attempts  we  might  make  to  land  ; 
and  yet  the  attempt  was  become  ab- 
solutely necessary,  as  the  completing 
our  suppl}r  of  water  would  not  admit 
of  any  longer  delay. 

However,  it  must  be  observed,  in 
justice  to  the  conduct  of  Captain 
Clerke,  that  it  was  very  probable, 
from  the  great  numbers  of  the  natives 
and  from  the  resolution  with  which 
they  seemed  to  expect  us,  an  attack 
could  not  have  been  made  without 
some  danger  ;  and  that  the  loss  of  a 


FEB.  1779.]       STRANGE  BEHAVIOUR  OF  TWO  BOYS. 


very  few  men  might  have  been  severely 
felt  by  us  during  the  remaining  course 
of  our  voyage.  Whereas  the  delaying 
the  execution  of  our  threats,  though 
on  the  one  .hand  it  lessened  their 
opinion  of  our  prowess,  had  the  effect 
of  causing  them  to  disperse  on  the 
other.  For  this  day,  about  noon, 
finding  us  persist  in  our  inactivity, 
great  bodies  of  them,  after  blowing 
their  conches  and  using  every  mode  of 
defiance,  marched  off  over  the  hills, 
and  never  appeared  afterward.  Those, 
however,  who  remained  were  not  the 
less  daring  and  insolent.  One  man 
had  the  audacity  to  come  within  mus- 
ket shot,  ahead  of  the  ship ;  and  after 
slinging  several  stones  at  us,  he  waved 
Captain  Cook's  hat  over  his  head, 
whilst  his  countrymen  on  shore  were 
exulting  and  encouraging  his  bold- 
ness. Our  people  were  all  in  a  flame 
at  this  insult,  and  coming  in  a  body 
on  the  quarter-deck,  begged  they  might 
no  longer  be  obliged  to  put  up  with 
these  repeated  provocations,  and  re- 
quested me  to  obtain  permission  for 
them  from  Captain  Clerke  to  avail 
themselves  of  the  first  fair  occasion 
of  revenging  the  death  of  their  com- 
mander. On  my  acquainting  him  with 
what  was  passing,  he  gave  orders  for 
some  great  guns  to  be  fired  at  the 
natives  on  shore,  and  promised  the 
crew  that  if  they  should  meet  with 
any  molestation  at  the  watering-place 
the  next  day  they  should  then  be  left 
at  liberty  to  chastise  them. 

It  is  somewhat  remarkable  that  be- 
fore we  could  bring  our  guns  to  bear 
the  islanders  had  suspected  our  inten- 
tions, from  the  stir  they  saw  in  the 
ship,  and  had  retired  behind  their 
houses  and  walls.  We  were  therefore 
obliged  to  fire,  in  some  measure,  at 
random  ;  notwithstanding  which  our 
shot  produced  all  the  effects  that  could 
have  been  desired.  For  soon  after  we 
saw  Koah  paddling  toward  us  with 
extreme  haste,  and  on  his  arrival  we 
learned  that  some  people  had  been 
killed,  and  amongst  the  rest  Maiha- 
maiha,  a  principal  chief  and  a  near 
relation  of  the  King.1  Soon  after  the 

1  The  word  "matee"  is  commonly 


343 

arrival  of  Koah,  two  boys  swam  off 
from  the  "morai"  toward  the  ships, 
having  each  a  long  spear  in  his  hand ; 
and  after  they  had  approached  pretty 
near  they  began  to  chant  a  song  in  a 
very  solemn  manner,  the  subject  of 
which,  from  their  often  mentioning 
the  word  "Orono"  and  pointing  to 
the  village  where  Captain  Cook  was 
killed,  we  concluded  to  be  the  late 
calamitous  disaster.  Having  sung  in 
a  plaintive  strahi  for  about  twelve  or 
fifteen  minutes,  during  the  whole  of 
which  time  they  remained  in  the 
water,  they  went  on  board  the  Dis- 
covery and  delivered  their  spears ;  and 
after  making  a  short  stay  returned  on 
shore.  Who  sent  them,  or  what  was 
the  object  of  this  ceremony,  we  were 
never  able  to  learn. 

At  night,  the  usual  precautions  were 
taken  for  the  security  of  the  ships  ; 
and  as  soon  as  it  was  dark  our  two 
friends  who  had  visited  us  the  night 
before  came  off  again.  They  assured 
us  that  though  the  effects  of  our  great 
guns  this  afternoon,  had  terrified  the 
chiefs  exceedingly,  they  had  by  no 
means  laid  aside  their  hostile  inten- 
tions, and  advised  us  to  be  on  our 
guard.  The  next  morning  the  boats 
of  both  ships  were  sent  ashore  for 
water ;  and  the  Discovery  was  warped 
close  to  the  beach  in  order  to  cover 
that  service.  We  soon  found  that 
the  intelligence  which  the  priests  had 
sent  us  was  not  without  foundation  ; 
and  that  the  natives  were  resolved  to 
take  every  opportunity  of  annoying  us 
when  it  could  be  done  without  much 
risk.  Throughout  all  this  group  of 
islands,  the  villages  for  the  most  part 
are  situated  near  the  sea,  and  the  ad- 
jacent ground  is  enclosed  with  stone 
walls  about  three  feet  high.  These 
we  at  first  imagined  were  intended  for 
the  division  of  property  ;  but  we  now 
discovered  that  they  served,  and  pro- 


used,  in  the  language  of  these  islands, 
to  express  either  killing  or  wounding ; 
and  we  were  afterward  told  that  this 
chief  had  only  received  a  slight  blow 
on  the  face  from  a  stone  which  had 
been  struck  by  one  of  the  balls, — 
Note  in  Original  Edition. 


344 

bably  were  principally  designed,  for  a 
defence  against  invasion.  They  con- 
sist of  loose  stones,  and  the  inhabitants 
are  very  dexterous  in  shifting  them 
with  great  quickness  to  such  situations 
as  the  direction  of  the  attack  may  re- 
quire. In  the  sides  of  the  mountain 
which  hangs  over  the  bay  they  have 
also  little  holes  or  caves  of  consider- 
able depth,  the  entrance  of  which  is 
secured  by  a  fence  of  the  same  kind. 
From  behind  both  these  defences  the 
natives  kept  perpetually  harassing  our 
waterers  with  stones  ;  nor  could  the 
small  force  we  had  on  shore,  with  the 
advantage  of  muskets,  compel  them 
to  retreat. 

In  this  exposed  situation  our  people 
were  so  taken  up  in  attending  to  their 
own  safety,  that  they  employed  the 
whole  forenoon  in  filling  only  one  ton  of 
water.  As  it  was  therefore  impossible 
to  perform  this  service  till  their  assail- 
ants were  driven  to  a  greater  distance, 
the  Discovery  was  ordered  to  dislodge 
them  with  her  great  guns ;  which 
being  effected  by  a  few  discharges, 
the  men  landed  without  molestation. 
However,  the  natives  soon  after  made 
their  appearance  again  in  their  usual 
mode  of  attack ;  and  it  was  now  foUnd 
absolutely  necessary  to  burn  down 
some  straggling  houses  near  the  wall 
behind  which  they  had  taken  shelter. 
In  executing  these  orders  I  am  sorry 
to  add  that  our  people  were  hurried 
into  acts  of  unnecessary  cruelty  and 
devastation.  Something  ought  cer- 
tainly to  be  allowed  to  their  resentment 
of  the  repeated  insults  and  contempt- 
uous behaviour  of  the  islanders,  and 
to  the  natural  desire  of  revenging  the 
loss  of  their  commander.  But  at 
the  same  time  their  conduct  served 
strongly  to  convince  me  that  the 
utmost  precaution  is  necessary  in 
trusting,  though  but  for  a  moment, 
the  discretionary  use  of  arms  in  the 
hands  of  private  seamen  or  soldiers  on 
such  occasions.  The  rigour  of  disci- 
pline and  the  habits  of  obedience  by 
which  their  force  is  kept  directed  to 
its  proper  objects  lead  them  naturally 
enough  to  conceive  that  whatever  they 
have  the  power  they  have  also  the 
right  to  do.  Actual  disobedience  being 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.         [VoT.  III.B.  V.Cn.lV. 


almost  the  only  crime  for  which  they 
are  accustomed  to  expect  punishment, 
they  learn  to  consider  it  as  the  only 
measure  of  right  and  wrong ;  and  hence 
are  apt  to  conclude  that,  what  they  can 
do  with  impunity  they  may  do  with 
justice  and  honour.  So  that  the  feel- 
ings of  humanity  which  are  insepar- 
able from  us  all,  and  that  generosity 
toward  an  unresisting  enemy  which 
at  other  times  is  the  distinguishing 
mark  of  brave  men,  become  but  weak 
restraints  to  the  exercise  of  violence 
when  opposed  to  the  desire  they  natur- 
ally have  of  showing  their  own  inde- 
pendence and  power. 

I  have  already  mentioned  that 
orders  had  been  given  to  burn  only 
a  few  straggling  huts  which  afforded 
shelter  to  the  natives.  We  were 
therefore  a  good  deal  surprised  to  see 
the  whole  village  on  fire  ;  and  before 
a  boat  that  was  sent  to  stop  the  pro- 
gress of  the  mischief  could  reach  the 
shore,  the  houses  of  our  old  and  con- 
stant friends  the  priests  were  all  in 
flames.  I  cannot  enough  lament  the 
illness  that  confined  me  on  board  this 
day.  The  priests  had  always  been 
under  my  protection  ;  and  unluckily 
the  officers  who  were  then  on  duty, 
having  been  seldom  on  shore  at  the 
"morai,"  were  not  much  acquainted 
with  the  circumstances  of  the  place. 
Had  I  been  present  myself,  I  might 
probably  have  been  the  means  of  sav- 
ing their  little  society  from  destruc- 
tion. Several  of  the  natives  were 
shot  in  making  their  escape  from  the 
flames  ;  and  our  people  cut  off  the 
heads  of  two  of  them  and  brought 
them  on  board.  The  fate  of  one  poor 
islander  was  much  lamented  by  us  all. 
As  he  was  coming  to  the  well  for  water 
he  was  shot  at  by  one  of  the  marines. 
The  ball  struck  his  calibash,  which 
he  immediately  threw  from  him  and 
fled.  He  was  pursued  into  one  of  the 
caves  I  have  before  described,  and  no 
lion  could  have  defended  his  den  with 
greater  courage  and  fierceness  ;  till  at 
last,  after  having  kept  two  of  our 
people  at  bay  for  a  considerable  time, 
he  expired,  covered  with  wounds.  It 
was  this  accident  that  first  brought 
us  acquainted  with  the  use  of  these 


RETURN  OF  KAIREEKEEA. 


345 


caverns.  At  this  time,  an  elderly 
man  was  taken  prisoner,  bound,  and 
sent  on  board  in  the  same  boat  with 
the  heads  of  his  two  countrymen.  I 
never  saw  horror  so  strongly  pictured 
as  in  the  face  of  this  man,  nor  so 
violent  a  transition  to  extravagant  joy 
as  when  he  was  untied  and  told  he 
might  go  away  in  safety.  He  showed 
us  he  did  not  want  gratitude,  as  he 
frequently  afterward  returned  with 
presents  of  provisions,  and  also  did  us 
other  services. 

Soon  after  the  village  was  destroyed 
we  saw  coming  down  the  hill  a  man 
attended  by  fifteen  or  twenty  boys 
holding  pieces  of  white  cloth,  green 
boughs,  plantains,  &c.,  in  their  hands. 
I  knew  not  how  it  happened  that  this 
peaceful  embassy,  as  soon  as  they 
were  within  reach,  received  the  fire 
of  a  party  of  our  men.  This,  how- 
ever, did  not  stop  them.  They  con- 
tinued their  procession,  and  the  officer 
on  duty  came  up  in  time  to  prevent  a 
second  discharge.  As  they  approached 
nearer,  it  was  found  to  be  our  much- 
esteemed  friend  Kaireekeea,  who  had 
fled  on  our  first  setting  fire  to  the 
village,  and  had  now  returned  and 
desired  to  be  sent  on  board  the  Re- 
solution. When  he  arrived,  we  found 
him  exceedingly  grave  and  thought- 
ful We  endeavoured  to  make  him 
understand  the  necessity  we  were 
under  of  setting  fire  to  the  village,  by 
which  his  house  and  those  of  his 
brethren  were  unintentionally  con- 
sumed. He  expostulated  a  little  with 
us  on  our  want  of  friendship  and  on 
our  ingratitude.  And  indeed  it  was 
not  till  now  that  we  learned  the  whole 
extent  of  the  injury  we  had  done  them. 
He  told  us  that,  relying  on  the  pro- 
mises I  had  made  them,  and  on  the 
assurances  they  had  afterward  receiv- 
ed from  the  men  who  had  brought 
us  the  remains  of  Captain  Cook,  they 
had  not  removed  their  effects  back 
into  the  country  with  the  rest  of  the 
inhabitants,  but  had  put  everything 
that  was  valuable  of  their  own,  as 
well  as  what  they  had  collected  from 
us,  into  a  house  close  to  the  "  morai, " 
where  they  had  the  mortification  to 
*ee  it  all  set  on  fire  by  ourselves.  Oft 


coming  on  board  he  had  seen  the 
heads  of  his  countrymen  lying  on  the 
deck,  at  which  he  was  exceedingly 
shocked,  and  desired  with  great  ear- 
nestness that  they  might  be  thrown 
overboard.  This  request  Captain 
Clerke  instantly  ordered  to  be  com- 
plied with. 

In  the  evening  the  watering  party 
returned  on  board,  having  met  with 
no  further  interruption.  We  passed 
a  gloomy  night,  the  cries  and  lament- 
ations we  heard  on  shore  being  far 
more  dreadful  than  ever.  Our  only 
consolation  was  the  hope  that  we 
should  have  no  occasion  in  future  for 
a  repetition  of  such  severities.  It  is 
very  extraordinary  that  amidst  all 
these  disturbances  the  women  of  the 
island  who  were  on  board  never  offered 
to  leave  us,  nor  discovered  the  smallest 
apprehensions  either  for  themselves 
or  their  friends  ashore.  So  entirely 
unconcerned  did  they  appear,  that 
some  of  them  who  were  on  deck  when 
the  town  was  in  flames  seemed  to 
admire  the  sight,  and  frequently  cried 
out  that  it  was  "maitai,"  or  very 

fine.  Bancroft  Li 

The  next  morning  Koah  came  off  as 
usual  to  the  ships.  As  there  existed 
no  longer  any  necessity  for  keeping 
terms  with  him,  I  was  allowed  to 
have  my  own  way.  When  he  ap- 
proached towards  the  side  of  the  ship, 
singing  his  song,  and  offering  me  a 
hog  and  some  plantains,  I  ordered 
him  to  keep  off,  cautioning  him  never 
to  appear  again  without  Captain 
Cook's  bones,  lest  his  life  should  pay 
the  forfeit  of  his  frequent  breach  of 
promise.  He  did  not  appear  much 
mortified  with  this  reception,  but 
went  immediately  onshore  and  joined 
a  party  of  his  countrymen  who  were 
pelting  the  waterers  with  stones.  The 
body  of  the  young  man  who  had  been 
killed  the  day  before  was  found  this 
morning  lying  at  the  entrance  of  the 
cave,  and  some  of  our  people  went  and 
threw  a  mat  over  it.  Soon  after  which 
they  saw  some  men  carrying  him  off 
on  their  shoulders,  and  could  hear 
them  singing,  as  they  marched,  a 
mournful  song. 
The  natives  being  at  last  convinced 


346 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.        [VoY.  III.  B.  V.  CH.  IV. 


that  it  was  not  the  want  of  ability  to 
punish  them  which  had  hitherto  made 
us  tolerate  their  provocations,  desisted 
from  giving  us  any  further  molesta- 
tion ;  and  in  the  evening  a  chief  called 
Eappo,  who  had  seldom  visited  us, 
but  whom  we  knew  to  be  a  man  of 
the  very  first  consequence,  came  with 
presents  from  Terreeoboo  to  sue  for 
peace.  These  presents  were  received, 
and  he  was  dismissed  with  the  same 
answer  which  had  before  been  given, 
that  until  the  remains  of  Captain 
Cook  should  be  restored  no  peace  would 
be  granted.  We  learned  from  this 
person  that  the  flesh  of  all  the  bodies 
of  our  people,  together  with  the  bones 
of  the  trunks,  had  been  burned ;  that 
the  limb  bones  of  the  marines  had 
been  divided  amongst  the  inferior 
chiefs ;  and  that  those  of  Captain  Cook 
had  been  disposed  of  in  the  following 
/nanner:  the  head,  to  a  great  chief 
called  Kahoo-opeon ;  the  hair,  to  Maia- 
niaia ;  and  the  legs,  thighs,  and  arms, 
to  Terreeoboo.  After  it  was  dark, 
many  of  the  inhabitants  came  off 
with  roots  and  other  vegetables,  and 
we  also  received  two  large  presents  of 
the  same  articles  from  Kaireekeea. 

The  19th  was  chiefly  taken  up  in 
sending  and  receiving  the  messages 
which  passed  between  Captain  Clerke 
and  Terreeoboo.  Eappo  was  very 
pressing  that  one  of  our  officers  should 
go  on  shore,  and  in  the  meantime 
offered  to  remain  as  a  hostage  on 
board.  This  request,  however,  it  was 
not  thought  proper  to  comply  with  ; 
and  he  left  us  with  a  promise  of 
bringing  the  bones  the  next  day.  At 
the  beach  the  waterers  did  not  meet 
with  the  least  opposition  from  the 
natives,  who,  notwithstanding  our 
cautious  behaviour,  came  amongst  us 
again  without  the  smallest  appearance 
of  diffidence  or  apprehension.  Early 
in  the  morning  of  the  20th  we  had 
the  satisfaction  of  getting  the  fore- 
mast stepped.  It  was  an  operation 
attended  with  great  difficulty  and 
some  danger,  our  ropes  being  so  ex- 
ceedingly rotten  that  the  purchase 
gave  way  several  times. 

Between  10  and  11  o'clock  we  saw 
•  great  number  of  people  descending 


the  hill  which  is  over  the  beach  in  a 
kind  of  procession,  each  man  carrying 
a  sugar-cane  or  two  on  his  shoulders, 
and  bread-fruit,  "taro,"  and  plan- 
tains in  his  hand.  They  were  pre- 
ceded by  two  drummers,  who,  when 
they  came  to  the  water-side,  sat  down 
by  a  white  flag,  and  began  to  beat 
their  drums,  while  those  who  had  fol- 
lowed them  advanced  one  by  one ; 
and,  having  deposited  the  presents 
they  had  brought,  retired  in  the  same 
order.  Soon  after,  Eappo  came  in 
sight  in  his  long  feathered  cloak, 
bearing  something  with  great  solem- 
nity in  his  hands  ;  and  having  placed 
himself  on  a  rock,  he  made  signs  for 
a  boat  to  be  sent  him.  Captain  Clerke 
conjecturing  that  he  had  brought  the 
bones  of  Captain  Cook,  which  proved 
to  be  the  fact,  went  himself  in  the 
pinnace  to  receive  him,  and  ordered 
me  to  attend  him  in  the  cutter.  When 
we  arrived  at  the  beach,  Eappo  came 
into  the  pinnace  and  delivered  to  the 
Captain  the  bones,  wrapped  up  in  a 
large  quantity  of  fine  new  cloth,  and 
covered  with  a  spotted  cloak  of  black 
and  white  feathers.  He  afterward 
attended  us  to  the  Resolution,  but 
could  not  be  prevailed  upon  to  go  on 
board  ;  probably  not  choosing,  from 
a  sense  of  decency,  to  be  present  at 
the  opening  of  the  bundle.  We  found 
in  it  both  the  hands  of  Captain  Cook 
entire,  which  were  well  known  from 
a  remarkable  scar  on  one  of  them  that 
divided  the  thumb  from  the  forefinger 
the  whole  length  of  the  metacarpal 
bone ;  the  skull,  but  with  the  scalp 
separated  from  it,  and  the  bones  that 
form  the  face  wanting ;  the  scalp, 
with  the  hair  upon  it  cut  short,  and 
the  ears  adhering  to  it ;  the  bones  of 
both  arms,  with  the  skin  of  the  fore- 
arms hanging  to  them ;  the  thigh  and 
leg  bones  joined  together,  but  with- 
out the  feet.  The  ligaments  of  the 
joints  were  entire,  and  the  whole  bore 
evident  marks  of  having  been  in  the 
fire,  except  the  hands,  which  had  the 
flesh  left  upon  them,  and  were  cut  in 
several  places  and  crammed  with  salt, 
apparently  with  an  intention  of  pre- 
serving them.  The  scalp  had  a  cut 
in  the  back  part  of  it,  but  the  skull 


FEB.  1779.]    COOK'S  REMAINS  COMMITTED  TO  THE  DEEP.       347 


was  free  from  any  fracture.  The  lower 
jaw  and  feet,  which  were  wanting, 
Eappo  told  us  had  been  seized  by  dif- 
ferent chiefs,  and  that  Terreeoboo  was 
using  every  means  to  recover  them. 

The  next  morning  Eappo  and  the 
King's  son  came  on  board,  and 
brought  with  them  the  remaining 
bones  of  Captain  Cook,  the  barrels  of 
his  gun,  his  shoes,  and  some  other 
trifles  that  belonged  to  him.  Eappo 
took  great  pains  to  convince  us  that 
Terreeoboo,  Maiha-maiha,  and  him- 
self were  most  heartily  desirous  of 
peace ;  that  they  had  given  us  the 
most  convincing  proof  of  it  in  their 
power ;  and  that  they  had  been  pre- 
vented from  giving  it  sooner  by  the 
other  chiefs,  many  of  whom  were  still 
our  enemies.  He  lamented  with  the 
greatest  sorrow  the  death  of  six  chiefs 
we  had  killed,  some  of  whom,  he  said, 
were  amongst  our  best  friends.  The 
cutter,  he  told  us,  was  taken  away 
by  Pareea's  people,  very  probably  in 
revenge  for  the  blow  that  had  been 
given  him,  and  it  had  been  broken  up 
thenextday.  The  arms  of  the  marines, 
which  we  had  also  demanded,  he  as- 
sured us  had  been  carried  off  by  the 
common  people,  and  were  irrecover- 
able ;  the  bones  of  the  chief  alone 
having  been  preserved  as  belonging 
to  Terreeoboo  and  the  "  Erees." 
Nothing  now  remained  but  to  per- 
form the  last  offices  to  our  great  and 
unfortunate  commander.  Eappo  was 
dismissed  with  orders  to  taboo  all  the 
bay ;  and  in  the  afternoon,  the  bones 
having  been  put  into  a  coffin  and  the 
service  read  over  them,  they  were 
committed  to  the  deep  with  the  usual 
military  honours.  What  our  feelings 
were  on  this  occasion,  I  leave  the 
world  to  conceive;  those  who  were 
present  know  that  it  is  not  in  my 
power  to  express  them. 

During  the  forenoon  of  the  22d  not 
a  canoe  was  seen  paddling  in  the  bay, 
the  taboo  which  Eappo  had  laid  on  it 
the  day  before  at  our  request  not  being 
yet  taken  off.  At  length  Eappo  came 
off  to  us.  We  assured  him  that  we 
were  now  entirely  satisfied,  and  that, 
as  the  "Orono"  was  buried,  all  re- 
membrance of  what  had  passed  was 


buried  with  him.  We  afterward  de  - 
sired  him  to  take  off  the  taboo,  and 
to  make  it  known  that  the  people 
might  bring  their  provisions  as  usual. 
The  ships  were  soon  surrounded  with 
canoes,  and  many  of  the  chiefs  came 
on  board  expressing  great  sorrow  at 
what  happened  and  their  satisfac- 
tion at  our  reconciliation.  Several  of 
our  friends  who  did  not  visit  us  sent 
presents  of  large  hogs  and  other  pro- 
visions. Amongst  the  rest  came  the 
old  treacherous  Koah,  but  was  refused 
admittance. 

As  we  had  now  everything  ready 
for  sea,  Captain  Clerke,  imagining 
that  if  the  news  of  our  proceedings 
should  reach  the  islands  to  leeward 
before  us  it  might  have  a  bad  effect, 
gave  orders  to  unmoor.  About  eight 
in  the  evening  we  dismissed  all  the 
natives,  and  Eappo  and  the  friendly 
Kaireekeea  took  an  affectionate  leave 
of  us.  We  immediately  weighed  and 
stood  out  of  the  bay.  The  natives 
were  collected  on  the  shore  in  great 
numbers,  and  as  we  passed  along, 
received  our  last  farewells  with  every 
mark  of  affection  and  goodwill. 


CONCLUSION. 

[Nothing  now  remains  but  to  give 
an  outline  of  the  last  twenty-one 
months'  voyage  of  the  Resolution  and 
Discovery,  until  their  arrival  in  Eng- 
land in  October  1780 ;  and,  as  before, 
the  synopsis  has  been  taken  from  the 
Cabinet  Cyclopaedia,  "Maritime  and 
Inland  Discovery,"  vol.  iii.,  pp.  86- 
92.] 

"  After  leaving  Owhyhee,  the  ships 
touched  at  the  Island  of  Atooe,  which 
was  found  desolated  by  a  war  origi- 
nating in  the  claims  of  different  chiefs 
to  the  goats  which  Captain  Cook  had 
put  on  shore.  These  animals  had  in- 
creased to  six  when  the  war  broke 
out  on  their  account,  in  the  course  of 
which  they  were  all  destroyed.  The 
history  of  the  introduction  of  useful 
animals  into  the  South  Sea  Islands 
affords  many  parallel  instances  ol 
human  blindness,  and  of  that  barbar- 


348 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.       [VoY.  III.  CONCLUSION. 


ous  degree  of  envy  and  rapacity  which 
destroys  a  treasure  rather  than  leave 
it  in  the  possession  of  a  rival. 

"Captain  Clerke  proceeded  now 
to  execute  the  intentions  of  his  late 
commander,  by  repeating  the  attempt 
to  find  a  passage  through  the  Northern 
Ocean.  He  touched  at  the  harbour 
of  St  Peter  and  St  Paul  in  Awatska 
Bay,  where  he  was  treated  by  the  Rus- 
sians with  unbounded  hospitality  ; 
and  then  passing  Behring's  Strait  a 
second  time,  penetrated  as  far  as  70° 
33'  N.,  where  the  same  obstacle  which 
had  prevented  the  progress  of  the 
ships  the  preceding  year  forbade  him 
to  advance  any  farther.  He  met  here 
with  a  firm  barrier  of  ice,  seven 
leagues  farther  to  the  south  than  that 
which  had  stopped  the  progress  of 
Captain  Cook.  The  impossibility  of 
a  passage  by  the  north  was  now- 
thought  to  be  sufficiently  proved, 
and  it  was  resolved  to  proceed  home- 
wards; the  chief  purpose  of  the  ex- 
pedition having  been  thus  answered. 
This  resolution  of  the  officers  diffused 
among  the  crews,  who  were  now 
heartily  tired  of  the  length  of  the 
voyage,  as  lively  a  joy  as  if  the  ships, 
instead  of  having  nearly  the  whole 
earth  to  compass,  were  already  ar- 
rived in  the  British  Channel.  When 
the  ships  had  just  reached  Kamts- 
chatka,  Captain  Clerke  died  of  a  de- 
cline; he  had  already  circumnavi- 
gated the  globe  three  times,  having 
sailed  first  with  Commodore  Byron, 
and  afterwards  with  Captain  Cook. 
Captain  Gore  now  succeeded  to  the 
command  of  the  expedition,  and  Lieu- 
tenant King  took  the  command  of  the 
Discovery.  Their  voyage  to  China 
was  not  productive  of  any  important 
geographical  results.  In  navigating 
these  stormy  seas  they  found  it  ne- 
cessary to  keep  at  a  distance  from 
land,  and  were  thus  baffled  by  con- 
stant tempestuous  weather  in  their 
attempt  to  survey  the  coasts  of  Japan. 

"  On  the  3d  of  December  our  navi- 
gators arrived  at  Macao,  where  they 
first  became  acquainted  with  the 
events  which  had  taken  place  in 
Europe  since  their  departure,  and  of 
the  war  which  had  broken  out  be- 


tween Great  Britain  and  France.  A 
rumour  of  the  generous  conduct  of 
the  latter  Government  at  the  same 
time  reached  them;  an  order  had 
been  issued  in  March  1779,  by  the 
Minister  of  the  Marine  at  Paris,  to 
all  the  commanders  of  French  ships, 
acquainting  them  with  the  expedition 
and  destination  of  Captain  Cook,  and 
instructing  them  to  treat  that  cele- 
brated navigator  wherever  they  should 
meet  him,  as  a  commander  of  a  neutral 
and  allied  power.  This  measure,  so 
honourable  to  the  nation  which  adopt- 
ed it,  is  said  to  have  originated  in  the 
enlightened  mind  of  the  celebrated 
Turgot.  Dr  Franklin,  who  at  that  time 
resided  at  Paris  as  Ambassador  from 
the  United  States,  had  a  short  time 
before  issued  a  requisition,  in  which 
he  earnestly  recommended  the  com- 
manders of  American  armed  vessels 
not  to  consider  Captain  Cook  as  an 
enemy ;  but  he  had  no  authority  to 
enforce  his  recommendation,  and  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  had 
not  the  magnanimity  to  adopt  it. 

"  While  the  ships  lay  in  the  Rivet 
of  Canton,  the  sailors  carried  on  a 
brisk  trade  with  the  Chinese  for  the 
sea-otter  skins  which  they  had  brought 
with  them  from  the  north-west  coast 
of  America,  and  which  were  every  day 
rising  in  their  value.  '  One  of  our 
seamen,'  says  Lieutenant  King,  'sold 
his  stock  alone  for  800  dollars ;  and 
a  few  prime  skins,  which  were  clean 
and  had  been  well  preserved,  were 
sold  for  120  each.  The  whole  amount 
of  the  value,  in  specie  and  goods,  that 
was  got  for  the  furs  in  both  ships,  I 
am  confident,  did  not  fall  short  of 
£2000  sterling;  and  it  was  generally 
supposed  that  at  least  two-thirds  of 
the  quantity  we  had  originally  got 
from  the  Americans  were  spoiled  and 
worn  out,  or  had  been  given  away,  or 
otherwise  disposed  of  in  Kamtschatka. 
When,  in  addition  to  these  facts,  it 
is  remembered  that  the  furs  were  at 
first  collected  without  our  having  any 
idea  of  their  real  value;  that  the 
greatest  part  had  been  worn  by  the 
Indians  from  whom  \ve  purchased 
them ;  that  they  were  afterwards  pre- 
served with  little  care,  and  frequently 


COOK'S  MERITS  AS  A  DISCOVERER. 


1779.] 

used  for  bedclothes  and  other  pur- 
poses ;  and  that  probably  we  had  not 
got  the  full  value  for  them  in  China ; 
the  advantages  that  might  be  derived 
from  a  voyage  to  that  part  of  the 
American    coast,    undertaken    with 
commercial  views,  appeared  to  me  of 
a  degree  of  importance  sufficient  to 
call  for  the  attention  of  the  public. ' 
These  observations  of  Lieutenant  King 
point  to  that  which  eventually  proved 
to  be  the  most  important  result  of 
this  expedition.      A  great  branch  of 
trade  in  the  Pacific  Ocean,  which  had 
hitherto   escaped  the   notice   of  the 
nations  most  interested  in  its  devel- 
opment,   and    possessing    establish- 
ments most  conveniently  situated  for 
carrying    it   on,    was   suddenly   dis- 
covered,   and  soon  after  vigorously 
prosecuted  by  a  maritime  people  from 
the  opposite  side  of  the  globe.     The 
crews  of  both  ships  were  astonished, 
as  well  as  overjoyed,  at  the  price  paid 
them  for  their  furs  by  the  Chinese; 
and  their  rage   to  return  to  Cook's 
River,  in  order  to  procure  a  cargo  of 
skins,  proceeded  at  one  time  almost 
to  mutiny.     A  few,  indeed,  contrived 
to  desert,  and  were  among  the  first 
adventurers  who  crossed  the  Pacific 
Ocean  in  the  newly  discovered  fur 
trade.      The  seamen  thus  unexpect 
edly  enriched  soon  underwent  a  total 
metamorphosis;  they  arrived  at  Macao 
in  rags,  many  of  them  having  incon- 
siderately sold  their  clothing  in  the 
South  Sea  Islands ;  but,  before  they 
left  that  harbour,  they  were  decked 
out  in  gaudy  silks  and  other  Chinese 
finery.      Nothing  of  importance  oc- 
curred during  the  remainder  of  their 
voyage    home;    and  on  the   4th  oi 
October,  the  ships  arrived  safe  at  the 
Nore,  after  an  absence  of  four  years, 
two  months,   and  twenty-two  days. 
In  the  whole  course  of  the  voyage 
the  Resolution  lost  but  five  men  by 
sickness,  of  whom   three  were  in  a 
precarious  state  of  health  when  th< 
expedition   left    England ;    the  Dis 
covery  did  not  lose  a  man. 

"  In  order  to  estimate  the  merits  o 
Captain  Cook,  it  will  be  only  neces 
sary  to  survey  generally  the  exten 


349 


nd  nature  of  his  discoveries,  and  to 
xamine  what  influence  they  exerted 
mmediately  on  the  commercial  en- 
erprise  of  nations.     In  the  extent  of 
he  coasts  which  he  surveyed  or  dis- 
overed,  he  far  surpasses  every  other 
lavigator.     The  eastern  coast  of  New 
Tolland,  2000  miles  in  extent,  was 
otally  unknown  till  he  traced  it ; 
scaping  from  -the  dangers  of  that  in- 
dicate navigation  solely  by  his  cool 
ntrepidity  and  the  resources  of  his 
kill.     He  also  circumnavigated  New 
Zealand,   the  eastern  and   southern 
>arts  of  which  were  quite  unknown, 
and  supposed  by  many  to  be  united  to 
;he  Terra  Australis  Incognita.     New 
Caledonia  and   Norfolk  Island  were 
3oth  discovered  by  him ;  and  the  New 
Hebrides,  from  his  labours,  first  as- 
sumed a  definite  shape  in  our  maps, 
tie  rendered  an  essential  service  to 
geography  also  by  his  circumnavigat- 
.ng  the  globe  in  a  high  southern  lati- 
tude ;  for,  though  the  exertions  and 
dangers  of  that  difficult  navigation 
were  not  repaid  by  any  brilliant  dis- 
coveries, it  set  at  rest  a  question  which 
bad  for  ages  divided  the  opinions  of 
speculative  geographers.      Sandwich 
Land,  or  Southern  Thule,  may  be  num- 
bered among  his  discoveries,  although 
it  is  probably  the  land  which  Gerritz 
had  descried  a  century  before. 

"  His  discoveries  on  the  north-west 
coast  of  America  were  still  more  im- 
portant and  more  extensive.  In  one 
voyage,  he  effected  more  than  the 
Spanish  navigators  had  been  able  to 
accomplish  in  the  course  of  two  cen- 
turies. In  sailing  through  Behring's 
Strait,  he  determined  the  proximity 
of  Asia  and  America,  which  Behring 
himself  had  failed  to  perceive ;  and  he 
assigned  the  coast  of  the  Tshuktzki  to 
its  true  place,  which,  in  many  maps 
of  his  time,  was  placed  some  degrees 
too  far  to  the  westward. 

"  It  is  needless  to  recapitulate  here 
the  large  additions  which  he  made  to 
our  knowledge  of  the  groups  of  islands 
scattered  through  the  Pacific  Ocean. 
Some  of  the  Society  and  Friendly 
Islands  were  known  before  his  time  ; 
but  he  carefully  surveyed  those  archi- 
pelagoes, and  fixed  the  positions  of  the 


350 


COOK'S  VOYAGES.        [Voy.  III.  CONCLUSION. 


chief  islands,  such  as  Otaheite  and 
Tongataboo,  with  an  accuracy  equal 
to  that  of  a  European  observatory. 
He  prided  himself  especially  on  hav- 
ing discovered  the  Sandwich  Islands, 
and  there  is  no  good  reason  to  refuse 
him  that  honour ;  for  even  if  it  be 
true  that  a  Spanish  navigator,  named 
Gali,  discovered  those  islands  in  1576, 
and  that  he  gave  to  Owb,yhee  the  name 
of  Mesa  or  Table  Mountain,  which  is 
marked  in  old  Spanish  charts  twenty- 
two  degrees  to  the  west  of  the  Sand- 
wich Islands,  but  in  the  same  latitude 
with  them  ;  yet  no  stress  can  be  laid 
on  a  discovery  from  which  mankind 
derived  no  knowledge.  The  Spaniards 
seem  soon  to  have  totally  forgotten  the 
Sandwich  Islands,  if  they  ever  knew 
them,  notwithstanding  the  advan- 
tages which  they  might  have  derived 
from  those  islands  in  their  frequent 
voyages  from  New  Spain  to  Manilla. 
Anson  and  many  other  navigators 
might  have  been  spared  infinite  dis- 
tress and  suffering  in  their  voyages 
across  the  Pacific  had  anything  cer- 
tain been  known  of  the  existence  and 
situation  of  the  Sandwich  Islands. 

' '  But  Cook's  merit  is  not  more 
conspicuous  in  the  extent  of  his  dis- 
coveries, than  in  the  correctness  with 
which  he  laid  down  the  position  of  every 
coast  of  which  he  caught  a  glimpse. 
His  surveys  afford  the  materials  of 
accurate  geography.  He  adopted  in 
practice  every  improvement  suggested 
by  the  progress  of  science ;  and  instead 
of  committing  errors  amounting  to  two 
or  three  degrees  of  longitude,  like  most 
of  his  predecessors,  his  determinations 
were  such  as  to  be  considered  accurate 
even  at  the  present  day.  Nor  was 
this  the  merit  of  the  astronomers  who 
accompanied  him  on  his  expeditions. 
He  was  himself  a  skilful  observer, 
and  at  the  same  time  so  vigilant  and 
indefatigable,  that  no  opportunity 
ever  escaped  him  of  ascertaining  his 
true  place.  He  possessed  in  an  emi- 
nent degree  the  sagacity  peculiar  to 
seamen ;  and  in  his  conjectures  re- 
specting the  configurations  of  coasts 
he  very  rarely  erred.  La  Perouse, 
who  was  a  highly  accomplished  sea- 
inan,  always  mentions  the  name  of 


Cook  with  the  warmest  admiration, 
and  frequently  alludes  to  the  re- 
markable correctness  of  his  surveys. 
Crozet,  also,  who  wrote  the  narrative 
of  Marion's  voyage,  speaking  of  Cook's 
survey  of  the  shores  of  New  Zealand, 
says — '  That  its  exactness  and  minute- 
ness of  detail  astonished  him  beyond 
expression ; '  but  Cook's  skill  as  a 
marine  surveyor  may  be  still  better 
estimated  from  the  chart  which,  at 
the  commencement  of  his  career,  he 
constructed  of  the  coasts  of  Newfound- 
land ;  and  of  that  chart,  Captain 
Frederick  Bullock,  the  able  officer  who 
has  recently1  completed  the  survey  of 
Newfoundland,  speaks  in  those  terms 
of  warm  commendation  which  a  mail 
of  ability  naturally  bestows  on  what- 
ever is  excellent. 

"  From  the  second  expedition  of 
Cook  may  be  dated  the  art  of  preserv- 
ing the  health  of  the  seamen  in  long 
voyages.  Before  that  time,  navigators 
who  crossed  the  Pacific  hurried  preci- 
pitately by  the  shortest  course  to  the 
Ladrones  or  the  Philippine  Islands  ; 
and  yet  they  rarely  reached  home 
without  the  loss  of  a  large  proportion 
of  their  crew.  Cook,  on  the  other 
hand,  felt  himself  perfectly  at  home 
on  the  ocean ;  he  did  not  care  to  limit 
his  voyages  either  in  space  of  time  or 
of  distance  ;  he  sailed  through  every 
climate,  crossing  both  the  arctic  and 
antarctic  circles ;  and  proved  that  a 
voyage  of  four  years'  duration  does 
not  necessarily  affect  the  health  of 
seamen.  This  was  a  discovery  of  far 
greater  importance  than  that  of  a  new 
continent  could  have  been.  By  his 
banishing  the  terror  that  arose  from 
the  frightful  mortality  that  previously 
attended  on  long  voyages,  he  has 
mainly  contributed  to'  the  boldness 
of  navigation  which  distinguishes  the 
present  day. 

"  Among  the  immediate  effects  of 
Captain  Cook's  voyages,  the  most  im- 
portant was  the  establishment  of  a 
colony  at  Botany  Bay.  That  great 
navigator  seems  to  have  contracted 
a  partiality  towards  the  New  Zea- 
landers ;  he  admired  their  generosity, 

1  This  was  published  in  1831. 


1779.]  THE 

their  manly  carriage,  and  their  intelli- 
gence. Their  country  appeared  to  him 
fertile;  abounding  in  commodities 
which  might  become  valuable  in  com- 
merce ;  and  he  hints,  though  with 
diffidence,  at  the  possibility  of  a  trade 
being  carried  on  between  Europe  and 
New  Zealand.  His  observations  on 
this  subject  had  influence,  no  doubt, 
on  the  minds  of  the  English  ministers, 
ard  they  resolved  on  establishing  a 
colony  at  New  Holland  ;  and  the  re- 
sult has  justified  Cook's  sanguine  an- 
ticipations. l  The  fur  trade  also,  which 
soon  caused  such  a  concourse  of  Euro- 
pean shipping  in  the  Pacific  Ocean, 

1  Infinitely  more  so,  in  this  third 
quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century. 


351 

originated  with  this  third  voyage ;  "but 
his  familiarity  with  the  South  Sea 
Islanders,  the  trade  which  he  estab- 
lished with  them,  and  the  practice 
which  he  commenced  of  purchasing 
sea  stores  from  them,  have  had,  per- 
haps, a  still  stronger  influence  on 
navigation  in  the  Pacific. 

"  Finally,  to  complete  the  eulogium 
on  this  great  navigator,  it  will  be 
sufficient  to  enumerate  some  of  the  dis- 
tinguished seamen  who  served  under 
him,  such  as  Vancouver,  Broughton, 
Bligh,  Burney,  Colnett,  Portlock, 
Dixon,  &c. ;  these  men  learned  under 
Cook  the  arduous  duties  of  their  pro- 
fession, and  they  always  spoke  of 
him  with  unqualified  admiration  and 
respect." 


OF  COOK'S  VOYAGES. 


